


The First Book of Urizen

by abele



Category: Devil May Cry, DmC: Devil May Cry
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Multi, Not Canon Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Canon, Slow Burn, Spoilers, V Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2019-11-16 02:33:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 69,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18085748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abele/pseuds/abele
Summary: A strange figure named V arrives bringing with him a terrible prophecy of Vergil's return, and he hires Dante to aid him with preventing such a calamity from occurring.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Can I just say how much I love how EXTRA V is? I mean, even 'Urizen' is from a Blake book of poems. Honestly this disaster boy is my new favorite. He got played dirty by the canon so that's where we come in and play around with it. :-)  
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> So this is playing around with canon, with V's introduction to Dante and Nero and also just the timeline they're dealing with as well as other things. (Obviously)

It’s not uncommon for demons to be prowling the streets of the Residential Area. Hell, if it were any less common then his pizza would never get paid for and Trish and Lady would be constantly coming by to kick his ass for something or another.

No, demons prowling are a sad fact of life for all of the humans foolish enough to not be afraid of the dark. They’re always there, just waiting in every dark corner for their next meal. There’s something different about tonight though, and they all know it. Dante can feel it and taste it in the air. Something big has gone down, something that has rattled the Underworld denizens in the city, pushing them into a near fury. There was a giant surge of demonic power that erupted from the city a few hours ago. He doesn’t doubt that it has something to do with the now missing Yamato and that’s enough to make even Dante’s fingers itch to find something to put a bullet in.

Nero’s in the hospital according to the frantic call that Kyrie and some woman named Nico gave him earlier. His right arm is gone, having somehow been _ripped off_ earlier today. Kyrie says that everything happened so fast. This Nico woman had just left the garage for less than two minutes before Nero was shouting for Kyrie to stay inside and then they heard a crash and Nero crying out in agony. They found him a little while later, when they determined that it was safe enough to enter the garage laying in a pool of his own blood.

 _“You burned it all right?”_ Dante asked the young woman over the phone when she’d called to inform him.

 _“Just like you showed.”_ Kyrie had replied. _“All of it is gone.”_

Even just 1/4th of the Sparda’s bloodline inside Nero made having his blood laying around a dangerous and powerful treat for any lurkers to smell and come after. If human blood could make monstrosities out of monsters, then the blood of a descendent of Sparda could make _so_ _much_ _worse_. Didn’t they all learn that in Fortuna with the creation of the ‘Savior’?

 _“Keep me up to date.”_ Dante had told her.

_“Aren’t you going to come check in on him?”_

_“I will once I find whoever took his arm.”_

That’s what has him out looking for trouble and finding it on each and every corner. The tang of Yamato’s power is still lingering in the air yet even Dante can’t feel wherever the sword and its user are now. They’re still in town, that’s for certain, but they haven’t used it past whatever that surge was earlier.

 ** _“Come Sparda-Son.”_** The demons smarter than the average run of the mill walking up and down the streets croon to him. “ ** _We can share it. Don’t you smell it? So sweet…ripe for the taking…we won’t be greedy…we’ll share it with you.”_**

“Sorry, I don’t share. Not with the likes of you.” Dante says as he strikes them down. He does wonder what they’re talking about. Trish would know…probably. It’s been a while since she’s been to the Underworld and her ‘contacts’ aren’t as up to date as they once were.

It takes a few hours before he stumbles over the ashes of a demon that he didn’t fell. It has him sending a text to Lady and Trish to see if they’re in town, but he gets negatives from both women. This wasn’t them, and it obviously wasn’t Nero. Who did it then? There are no other demon hunters that Dante’s aware of – no successful ones at least, and whoever did this was clearly successful.

He finds more of that, strange demons killed by an unknown aggressor. It takes a few times of seeing it before he realizes something. Whoever walked away from this, they weren’t the aggressor like he originally thought. These demons were _hunting_ them. There’s open season out on someone and whoever they are, they’re giving back as good as they’re getting.

 _‘Don’t you smell it? So sweet…ripe for the taking.’_ The demon’s words float back to the forefront of his mind. It makes Dante feel a little bad for whoever the poor bastard is that’s fallen on the demons radars. It’s around these times that Dante wishes that he could sense and feel what a full-fledged demon could. Maybe he could track whoever this was down and give them a job. Morrison’s been itching to turn Devil May Cry into a legitimate agency and with Nero down and some unknown demon running around with the Yamato…Dante might need a little help with crowd control.

He’s gets a visit from Morrison the next day. It’s not really the time to be taking on any clients with whatever it is that’s going on, but the promise of cash upfront isn’t something Dante can ignore. Cash upfront means one of two things, either it's a trap or it's desperation. There’s something that strikes Dante as _not right_ the moment that the stranger steps into the building and lets the doors close behind him. He doesn’t look up from the book in his hands, his dark hair obscuring his face as Morrison drones on and on about something or another.

Whatever he is, he’s a strange dichotomy of power and powerlessness in human form wrapped in a corset and leather, the demonic tainted tattoos on his skin spreading almost greedily over every inch of skin from his torso up his neck and twisting down to each long finger.

He’s not a demon, that much Dante’s certain of – but he’s not fully _human_ either.

There’s a soft tang of power in the air. A familiar tang that puts Dante completely on edge, yet it’s quiet in a way that it usually isn’t. Demonic power likes to let itself be known, and that’s doubly true for _this_ power, and yet it’s almost as if the man in front of him is attempting to hide it. Like he’s trying to keep it from being recognized. It’s something that Dante’s never experienced before. He wouldn’t have ever thought it was possible to mute this power let alone that someone would even try to, and it makes something under his skin itch in a way that Dante hasn’t felt in a long time.

Well, a long time next to finding Nero. Other than that, there’s never really been another demonic presence that has made Dante’s devil want to come out and exert its superiority over another or just play.

Well…not for a very long time before Nero. Dante wasn’t surprised in the slightest that Nero triggered it. His father certainly did.

But this isn’t the rise for a fight. This is something different.  

 _‘Come Sparda-Son…Don’t you smell it? So sweet, ripe for the taking.’_ In that moment, the demon’s words make sense in a way they didn’t before.

 _I guess you found me instead of me having to find you._ Dante thinks to himself.

“I know that these aren’t your preferred sorts of jobs, but beggars can’t be choosers.” Morrison says and Dante tries to drag his attention back to the other man who is still talking. Dante hasn’t been listening to a single word he’s said this whole time. There must be a look on his face because Morrison looks up to the sky like he’s praying to a god he’s never believed in and he levels an exasperated look on Dante. “Try to keep him in one piece, okay?” Bodyguard? Makes sense. Dante very much doubts that this guy can go two city blocks without some demon desperate to get their claws – and probably other things just looking at him – into him. “I’ll call Trish and Lady and let them know that you’ll be out.” Dante makes a disgusted noise at that, but he doesn’t say anything as Morrison leaves, and the two men are finally alone.

“So, what’s your name?” Dante asks and the man takes a few steps forward. There’s a silver cane in his hands and from what Dante can see there are strange carvings in the metal. It’s clearly not as harmless as it might originally led someone to believe. Dante’s starting to feel that way about this man in many forms. Like a dangerous Venus fly trap, just waiting for its prey to underestimate the danger it’s walking into.

“’I have no name, I am but two days old’…” His voice is almost hypnotically dark and smooth. There’s something almost…amused, Dante would say about that sentence, and for a moment Dante isn’t certain how to take him. There’s a brief pause where ‘Two Days Old’ stops walking towards him and he closes the book in his hand like a performer playing a role. “Just kidding. You can call me V.”

“Okay ‘V’.” Dante plays along. “Why don’t you tell me everything about this ‘job’?”

“A powerful demon is about to resurrect, and we need your help, Dante.” V says and there’s a slight quality of mocking to the rhythmic tone of the words. It’s almost like he’s saying them just to poke fun at Dante, to get a rise out of him for reasons unknown.

It works.

“Now that’s a familiar tune.” Dante huffs out a laugh as he stands and moves over to the couch. “Do you have any idea how many times I’ve heard that exact same line?”

“This is…special.” V replies to that.

“Special?” Dante tilts his head a little and motions for V to continue. “Okay, so what’s so special about this one?”

“This demon is your reason.” V says. “Your reason for fighting.” That makes the hairs on the back of Dante’s neck rise up even though he doubts that V has any idea what he’s talking about. There’s only one demon that can claim to be Dante’s ‘reason’ and it sure as hell isn’t any of the pathetic demons trying to claw their way through this town.

“Does this demon have a name?” Dante asks and he watches those full lips form the word as he says it.

“Vergil.”

__________

“Do you believe him?” Trish asks as she leans against his desk with her arms crossed. “I mean, it’s not common knowledge but it’s also not impossible to put two and two together if one knows that there are two Sparda descendants.”

“It makes sense Trish.” Dante says, running his hand through his hair. “It would explain why someone went after the Yamato. Fuck, it would explain why the Yamato let itself be taken.”

“You think Vergil took it?” Trish’s eyebrows go up. “That’s impossible. It would imply that Vergil was already walking amongst us. You would have felt him.”

“Maybe not Vergil himself, but an acolyte or someone doing his dirty work? Yamato answers to one person and one person only over all others. If Vergil has called for it…”

“And how would this ‘V’ know that?” Trish asks. “What role does he play in all this?”

“He wants my help preventing it.”

“And will you?” She gives him a look. “Prevent Vergil from returning I mean.”

“Vergil decided a long time ago that this world wasn’t big enough for the both of us. Something tells me he hasn’t changed his stance on that.” Dante replies. “As for ‘V’, I’m not sure what his role is in all of this. Not yet at least. He’s not human, I know that much but I’ll admit that I don’t know _what_ he is.”

“What do you mean?”

“He…he’s hard to get a read on.” Dante says after a moment. “But he wants me to protect him. To go with him to the five points of this ‘resurrection’ and prevent it from taking hold in this world.”

“Why not just go fight the demon? If it is Vergil, I don’t think breaking a few demonic sigils around town is going to stop him. Not if he has the Yamato.”

“He doesn’t have all of it.” Dante says and Trish looks at him confused. “’V’ has a piece of it with him. Somehow.”

“What?”

“I could feel it. It’s a small one, but he’s carrying a shard of the Yamato. Vergil won’t be able to use the sword without reclaiming it.” Dante mimics Trish’s stance and crosses his arms. “Whoever ‘V’ is, he’s not telling everything. I don’t know if he was part of this group trying to bring Vergil back and he changed his mind and is now trying to stop it. I don’t know if he’s just stupid and found a piece of the Yamato and thought it would be wise to keep it and I don’t know if this whole thing could end up just being a trap meant to lure me in.” _Good choice on bait though_. _Very good choice. _“I do know that he’s somehow blocking the call of the shard. The demons can feel it, but they don’t know what they’re sensing. It’s all twisted up with his own demonic power.”

“Even if it is a trap, you have to go.”

“I know.” Dante sighs. “That’s what irritates me.” He walks towards her and lets his hands drop. “I need you to keep an eye on things here. See what you can find out. Either we verify what V is saying or we prove that he’s a traitor and take the shard back. Either way, I want to know.”

“I’ll get right on it.” Trish says with a nod as she gets up and leaves. Dante takes a moment and looks at the tickets on the desk. They’ll pass through Fortuna on this line…and Vergil coming back or not, Dante’s going to make them stop and check in on Nero. Hopefully they boy’s awake by then, but the lack of an update call from Kyrie lets Dante know that he’s hoping for too much.

There’s not much he can do tonight though. The demons outside are starting to circle around Devil May Cry. They’re sensing V’s presence has come into the building, but they’re also sensing the presence of a much more powerful entity residing inside as well. It should keep them out for the night at least, maybe not two nights but they’ll be gone in the morning. As funny as it is, as Dante goes around to check the windows, _he_ feels it. He feels a hint of what he figures the scavengers outside can feel. They always were a lot more sensitive to demonic presences and for the first time Dante really _feels_ it. It’s coming from the bedroom. Dante had made a big production of being a good host and had offered V the use of the only real sleeping quarters in the entire establishment.

V must have fallen asleep.

It’s not uncommon for power to leak during moments of complete vulnerability, sleep being one of those moments.

Dante sighs and heads to the room. He’ll need to put a few drops of blood on the windowsill to keep things from smelling the raven-haired man and attempting to get in to eat him. He pushes the door open as quietly as he possibly can and he inwardly cheers when the hinges don’t decide to declare a rebellion against him and scream the song of their people to anyone who will listen.

He steps into the room and starts to make his way to the window. He can’t help but stop and look at the man sleeping on the bed when he goes to walk past it.

V’s laying half on his side, the sheets falling dangerously low. There’s nothing but bare skin with those strange tattoos stretched across it. Dark hair fans out around his face and Dante watches his chest rise and fall with each breath he takes. In the moonlight cast from the window he’s ethereal. A dark-haired siren calling out to Dante and Dante didn’t even realize he’d taken a step closer until there’s a pull of demonic energy, like a strange summoning before a demon bird the size of a fucking vulture swoops down at him from the shadows of the room with a loud squawk.

“What do you think you’re doing big guy?” The bird snaps at him and Dante stares at it in surprise. That was certainly not what he was expecting. The bird flails out it’s wingspan in an obvious ‘get back’ shooing motion and all the noise wakes V up who snaps awake and shoots up like he’s ready for a fight. His eyes land on Dante and he looks unsure for a moment if he should defend himself or just ignore Dante’s presence.

“Did you need something Dante?” He asks, his fist clenching the sheets and looking like he’s struggling against the urge to tug them up like some uncertain virgin trying to maintain their virtue and between pretending that his nakedness doesn’t bother him in the slightest with his sudden audience.

…Maybe he’s starting to think of too many words that start with ‘V’ whenever he’s in this man’s presence. Besides, not like he’s seeing _all_ the goods.

“Just making sure we don’t get any uninvited guests.” Dante says, walking over to the window and making a show to those green eyes watching him – and the weird demon bird familiar, is he a witch? That would possibly make sense – of pulling his finger up and biting down into it before smearing a drop of blood along the sill. “That’ll keep all those nasties out there who want themselves a helping of you al la mode, outside. You’re welcome.”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re a paragon of goodwill.” The bird snaps. “Keep on stepping, nothing to see here.” It shifts slightly and holds out its wings again but this time in a clear attempt to shield V from prying eyes.

“Griffon, it’s fine.” V says, obviously losing the battle with himself not to tug the sheets up a little bit more, to ‘Griffon’ and the bird huffs.

“Yeah, not really Shakespeare. You don’t know how tasty you smell right now and I don’t trust balls for brains within twenty feet of you.” Griffon tells him before it makes another shooing motion at Dante as it says ‘Out!’ and Dante holds up his hands in a mocking kind of surrender as he walks out of the room.

“Goodnight V.” Dante says as a goodbye.

“Goodnight Dante.” V’s voice says as he closes the door behind him.

This mission is shaping up to either be a strange one, or a supremely difficult one. Unfortunately, Dante just hasn’t figured out which one it is, but if there’s one thing he’s learned it’s don’t be distracted by the pretty bait before you know who is holding the hook it’s attached to.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> V and Dante make their way towards their first destination, but it seems like there are some road blocks along the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOL. So...I may have gone a little bit overboard with V and his love of poetry. I'm just going to warn you all now.  
> And thank you so much for the reviews guys! Please keep them coming!

There are dozens of eyes staring at the two of them as they stand in line patiently for their train to arrive and for their journey to begin. It’s almost amusing how much they stick out from the rest of the ‘upstanding citizens’ standing around them. On most days, Dante doesn’t stick out too much. Maybe a few curious glances when he’s carrying the sword around in its case, but for the most part people give him a wide berth and leave it at that.

V, however, seems determined to stand out from the crowd. It appears that it’s not only demons that can’t seem to keep their eyes off of the man, not that V appears to be paying attention even in the slightest. He’s oblivious to the curious and appreciative glances that everyone is sending him, not that Dante blames them with V back in the black leather corset ensemble that would make Trish proud, apparently being more interested in that book that’s always in his hands. The one with the large stylized roman numeral mimicking the name he’s given them to call him by.

There’s a woman that breaks from the crowd a little, slowly moving her way over to them inch by inch before she acts like it’s just a casual conversation that she’s starting up between two people waiting in line.

“Good book?” She asks and V doesn’t respond. “Must be, you seem pretty engrossed in it.” She tries again and V makes an acknowledging sort of sound but doesn’t engage in any other way with her. There’s a few more moments of awkward silence on her part – not on V’s because he’s not paying attention and certainly not on Dante’s because this is quality entertainment right here – before she attempts to pull V into a conversation with her again. “Five? I don’t think I know that book.” Still nothing. “Oh, okay then. Well, enjoy your trip Mr.?” She waits for an answer and V doesn’t give it. Dante bites back a snort of amusement as she fades away into the crowd once more.

“Whatever you’re reading can’t be that interesting.” Dante says, coming over. “But she’s right, what _are_ you reading? Care to share with the class?”

“’It is right it should be so; Man was made for joy and woe; and when this we rightly know, safely through the world we go’.” V’s melodic reading of the words on the page strike Dante before he flips the page without looking up.

“Riiigghtt.” Dante draws the word out with a roll of his eyes. “So, Mr. Poetry.” He says, looking around at the people close enough who have listened and overheard the raven-haired man’s reciting and are clearly curious or entranced by it. “Mind if we make a quick pit stop before our final destination?”

“We are on a strict timeline.” V reminds him and Dante shrugs.

“Yeah, but there’s some wiggle room, right?”

“Not so much that we should waste it this early in our journey.”

“It’s necessary.” Dante tells him and those green eyes finally glance up from the page to look at him.

“Where and why?”

“Fortuna.” Dante replies. “There’s a kid I’ve got to check on.”

“Nero?” V asks and Dante feels his shoulders square off a little.

“You know, you know a lot for a guy who is only two days old V.”

“I do my best.” V tells him with a small tilt of his lips.

“Why me?”

“Why not you?” V replies back so carelessly like the question isn’t fully worth his time to go into.

“Humor me.”

“This feels like a question you should have asked prior to taking the ‘job’ as it were.” V informs him and Dante crosses his arms. V glances him over before he sighs and closes the book in his hand, leaning slightly on the cane as he looks at him fully. “It had to be you. Who else could stop him? Who else would listen and understand the gravity of the threat that I would have brought to them?”

“How are you involved in all this?” Dante asks. “Because I gotta say V, you seem to know a lot about my life and my family. I’m not sure how I feel about that. How did you get mixed up in all of this?”

“As an unwilling third party I assure you.” V says and that same mocking lilt to his voice has returned. “If it had been up to me, I would have never been put in this position.”

“Standing against Vergil?”

“Depending on you for protection.” V replies with a small shake of his head. “Vergil…he must be stopped. What he plans to do is monstrous, and I cannot stand idly by if I could have prevented at least a part of it.” There’s something there, a kernel of truth that is so much deeper than V is letting Dante see. He covers it up easily though with a small smile. “Alas, as it is, all of the cards have all been divvied up…and we must play the hand granted to us.” Dante lets that sit between them for a moment before he stretches and shrugs.

“We’re stopping in Fortuna.” He tells him.

“Very well.” V relents far too easily. “The boy may be of some use to us after all.”

“Oh no. This is my gig. You leave Nero out of this.”

“If you persist in making pitstops, then there may not be the option for _anyone_ to be left out of the chaos that Vergil will bring with him.”

“It’s one pitstop.”

“For now.” V says as he opens the book up again and goes back to semi-ignoring the world around him. “I believe we should ask the boy what he wants to do when we get there.”

“He’s injured.” Dante says, his tone firm and he hopes that V understands it for what it is. V may be his client and Vergil might be a disaster of epic proportions coming their way – but Nero is _family_ , and Dante will do his best to protect the kid.

“He hasn’t healed yet?”

“Having your arm ripped off tends to be a rather traumatic experience. Who knew?”

“The arm was a receptacle for the Yamato was it not? It existed before he acquired the sword and it should have manifested again after its loss.”

“Well it hasn’t.”

“Hmm…I see. Perhaps you’re right then. Perhaps he is not ready to join the fight.” V says and Dante almost trips up and defends the kid against V’s comment, but he holds it back in time. It’s what he wanted after all. Getting Nero involved in anything involving Vergil…well that just wasn’t something that Dante was going to let happen.

The train finally opens its doors to its passengers and the ticket master glances in absolute surprise when he gets a good look at V and then down at the first-class tickets. It’s clear that V isn’t exactly the image that he’s used to being presented with when it comes to the usual customer. He takes a moment, before he scans the tickets and forces a smile as he hands them back. He does a small glance over of V, the smile getting tighter before he motions for them to enter. “Please enjoy your trip sir, your cabin will be to the left when you enter the train.” V just nods and picks up his cane, holding it along his side as he strides into the train car.

“Really went all out.” Dante says, looking at their individual cabin as V takes one side and sits. “Couldn’t just sit in coach with the rest of them?”

“I don’t do well in crowds.” V says softly after a moment. “I make people feel…unsettled.”

“Unsettled isn’t the word I’d use for what you make people feel.” Dante snorts as he comes in and closes the door. He feels that summoning rush again and he’s not surprised at all when the bird from last night is on the seat across from V.

“Plus, I think the giant bird might give them pause.” V says with a tiny, amused smirk.

“Yeah, I can see how that might freak someone out. Shoo.” Dante says, waving a hand and the bird squawks at him angrily for a moment before abandoning its seat in favor of the space next to V. Dante just lays out on the seat and closes his eyes. “Wake me up when we get to Fortuna.”

“Will do.”

\----------

_“I was angry with my friend;_

_I told my wrath, my wrath did end._

_I was angry with my foe:_

_I told it not, my wrath did grow._

 

_And I water’d it in fears,_

_Night and morning with my tears:_

_And I sunned it with smiles,_

_And with soft deceitful wiles._

 

_And it grew both day and night._

_Till it bore an apple bright._

_And my foe beheld it shine,_

_And he knew that it was mine._

 

_And into my garden stole,_

_When the night had veild the pole;_

_In the morning glad I see;_

_My foe outstretched beneath the tree.”_

 

V’s voice carried itself through his semi-waking moments, that voice twisting around his dreams. Dante cracked an eye open lazily to glance over at the man who was lounging easily in the seat across from him, his long fingers petting the head of a giant jaguar in his lap.

 _What are you V? Who are you?_ Dante can’t help but think as that voice lulls him back to sleep.

\----------

“What are you going to do V?” That bird’s voice is the first thing that Dante hears. “You gonna challenge it? Why did you even bring that big lug if you’re not even going to use him?”

“Dante’s here for more… _challenging_ adversaries.” V’s voice says softly. “I am more than capable of dealing with this one on my own.” There’s a soft rumbling growl in response to that.

“You know, I agree with the furball. Just leave it V, we don’t know anything about it right now. Unless it comes after us, we’ve no reason to go poking the bear with a stick. Not with your current condition. You need all the strength you can save.”

“If I leave it, it’ll just work its way through the passengers until it finds us.” V says. “Unfortunately for all of us, that possibility is not something I can turn my back to.”

“Ugh. Humanity is a chore.” Griffon groans and there’s a flap of wings. “Fine, let’s just make this quick. I’ve got your back V.” There’s that rumbling growl again. “Ugh fine whatever, _we’ve_ got your back. Happy now?” There’s the rumble again before the feeling of V’s strange familiars returning to his body.

“Want help?” Dante asks without opening his eyes and there’s a pause.

“No, I do not require it at this time.” V tells him. “Sleep Dante. There is still time to spare before we reach Fortuna.”

“You know the turkey’s right.” Dante says, cracking open an eye and looking at the man standing inside the doorway. “This crap is kind of what you paid me for.”

“I paid for you to ensure that I do not fail in breaking the summoning sigils and preventing the spell from taking place.” V tells him with a small tilt of his head. “Dealing with the rabble…well, it seems that this time that job falls to me.”

“You sure you’ve got this?”

“You’ll know if I don’t.” V replies before slowly closing the door. “Sleep Dante, I will return posthaste once I have finished.”

\----------

 

“This is stupid V.” Griffon says from his shoulder as he reappears as V makes his way down the halls. “Who knows what devil might be in the lower cars.”

“That’s why we’re looking.” V tells him.

“Just go back and let Dante deal with it. What else is he good for?” Griffon says before he shakes his whole body, ruffling out his feathers. “Well, besides ogling you in your sleep.”

“If I let Dante handle it, we’ll never reach our destination in time.” V says. “Subtlety, thy name is not Dante after all.” Griffon makes an annoyed sort of sound before he melts back into the tattoos as V opens the door to the next traveling car and walks past the other riders of this train.

V almost pities them.

They have no idea the danger just at the back of the train preparing to make its way towards them. They live their lives in blind conformance, sheep waiting for either the wolf or the shepherd, never knowing which one is coming through that door.

There was once a time when V wouldn’t have cared. When he would have claimed that he was neither. Now though? Now with his regained humanity rushing through his veins, with his mother’s gift returned to him – well now he may not be the shepherd but he’s certainly not the wolves’ friend either.

It doesn’t take him long to make his way to the back, to the baggage cars and the stench of the Underworld hits his nose when he opens the final door and carefully comes into the area. Whoever it is who is trying to come through, the possession hasn’t fully taken hold. That’s good, it’ll put the battle in V’s corner.

“Oh, that’s not good.” Griffon says quietly, manifesting on his shoulder and glancing into the area with the flickering lights and the body gorging itself on another train employee and drawing the necessary sigils in blood on its body and the walls surrounding them.

“Can you sense who it is?” V asks and Griffon puffs up his feathers a little again. This time less in irritation and more in discomfort. V wonders what he sees and what he’s feeling.

“Moloch.” Griffon replies. “I wouldn’t have thought he’d serve _him_.”

“First, Moloch, horrid King, besmeared with blood of human sacrifice, and parents’ tears; Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud, their children’s cries unheard that passed through fire to his grim idol.” V recites softly and quietly and Griffon nods.

“This is bad news V. What’s a demon like Moloch doing here?”

“I don’t know, why don’t we ask him?” V asks as he steps fully into the area and lets his cane tap on the ground, the clinking metal sound drawing the attention of the vessel and its head twists completely around to look at him separate from the rest of the body. It paints a rather unsettling image, eyes carved out and blood dripping from a face that seems frozen in the terror experienced by the soul that once inhabited it.

“ ** _You_** ” The voice seems to claw its way past the vocal chords and V tilts his head as if giving a mocking sort of bow. “ ** _Found you_** ” The face looks like it tries to smile but there isn’t enough fine motor control to perform the action.

“Sure did dumbass. Look at that V, he’s got a working brain. Or at least some of one, looks like he’s still digesting it.” Griffon mocks and the body twists the rest of itself around to match the head in facing V. There’s a splat of whatever it was that its hand clenched as it throws it to the side.

 _“ **…V…** ” _It repeats his given name. _“… **The broken boy…shattered and left to crumble to ash…** ” _

“Moloch.” V says. “If we are to be using one others names like civilized individuals before we seek to end each other's vessels.” V shifts his weight on the cane. “I must admit, you seem a strange ally for _him_.”

_“ **You took something with you…he wants it back…** ”_

“He doesn’t get it.” V replies to that. “I would tell you to send him that message for me, but you will not be leaving this train alive.”

 _“ **…Little Lamb…** ” _Moloch taunts and V’s fingers tighten on the cane. _“ **…his Little Lamb…** ” _

V sends out the mental call to his second familiar and Shadow manifests in front of him with a soft warning growl. “Let us be quick and quiet about this, yes?”

 _“ **…you…care?...** ”_ Moloch lets out a rough laugh like V’s an old dog that’s just learned a new trick. _“ **…how cute…you may think you’re one of them, Little Lamb, but you are not…** ”_

“Shadow.” V commands and the demon familiar rushes the vessel. V knows what this is, Moloch is buying time. The possession hasn’t fully taken root, V has interrupted it and the puppet chosen hasn’t consumed enough human blood to continue containing the demon attempting to force itself inside of it. This is the only moment that the elder demon is vulnerable and V can’t take the risk that it informs Urizen, the other half of Vergil left behind, of where V is before V is ready for him.

If Dante finds out the truth, he’ll turn against him, and V can’t have that.

Vergil might be a match for Dante, but this form that V inhabits now would barely even scratch the surface of what Dante can accomplish now. Dante has won just as many squirmishes that they’ve engaged in over the years as Vergil, and through his foolish pride and need for more power, it led Vergil to perform the unthinkable and the unforgivable, and now here stood V.

Here stood V standing against everything that he once stood for.

Somewhere out there, Fate was laughing at his expense.

V walks calmly over to the broken body of Moloch. With this loss, it’ll be a long time before the other demon can even begin to attempt to walk once more in the human world. The broken and dying thing snarls at him with each step V takes as he approaches him. “When the stars threw down their spears and water’d heaven with their tears: did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” V mocks the demon with the last line as he spears the body and he feels the demon vanquished.

“That’s not good V.” Griffon says as he returns to his shoulder. “Urizen is looking for you far too soon.”

“That…” V says, leaning slightly on the cane as he catches his breath from the use of demonic energy. “Is precisely what Dante is for.” He straightens himself as he looks over the body. He feels a sense of guilt at the useless death and he turns around, opening the door and making his way back to the cabin. Dante’s still laying in the position that V left him in and V takes a seat.

“Everything alright?” Dante asks, not bothering to open his eyes or look at him.

“It’s been handled.” V replies, looking out of the window and Dante huffs.

“Good.” He says and the cabin falls into silence for a while. V pulls out his book and lets it open to a random page and he inwardly curses at the poem before his eyes.

“What is it V?” Griffon asks, looking over at the book.

“‘Little Lamb who made thee, dost thou know who made thee?’.” V recites from the poem before his eyes. It’s Vergil and Urizen mocking him, of that he’s sure. “Little Lamb indeed.” V huffs as he closes the book firmly and returns his attention to the scenery outside.

They’ll be in Fortuna soon.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So V's quotes are taken from:  
> ‘Joy’ William Blake, ‘A Poison Tree’ William Blake, ‘The Tyger’ William Blake, ‘The Lamb’ William Blake  
> and Paradise Lost, i. 391-405: Milton
> 
> I kind of see that V doesn't just quote Blake, Blake is just his favorite. He knows all kinds of epic poems and old poets.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! So I just wanted to let everyone reading this story know about this: Update schedule will post on Fridays from here on out.  
> I have a few chapters waiting in the wings so hopefully it'll help me keep up with it until this story finds its natural conclusion. But just for anyone curious, Fridays are the days to check back in for updates.

It’d be easy enough to lie and to say that he follows V after the mysterious man slinks out of the train car to go ‘deal’ with this demon because he’s been paid to look after the guy, and that he makes it his purpose in life to make sure that he never leaves a job unfinished or a client unsatisfied.

Of course, after Trish and Lady would undoubtedly lose their heads from laughing hysterically at that, and after Morrison would give him that oh so familiar look of ‘who do you think you’re trying to pull the wool over their eyes?’ that he’s perfected over the years of dealing with Dante’s schemes and methods, Dante would probably have to confess to the truth.

It’d be easy to try and lie, but no. The truth of the matter, and what gets Dante off his ass and following the raven-haired summoner through the train is the simple fact that Dante is curious.

Granted, V leaves one with a lot to be curious about. Practically appearing out of thin air with a doomsday prophecy about Vergil and a feeling that nothing was as it seemed with him. Dante feels like he’s still trying to figure out if V is the magician pulling off the grand trick or if he’s the assistant meant to catch the eye and distract from what’s really going on. Nothing about the man settles into the way that Dante’s known the world to work, both the human world and the Underworld. A human with the taint of a demon. A powerful summoner able to command demonic familiars of unknown origin. A walking contradiction of everything Dante understands.

Dante, Vergil and Nero are powerful because of the demon blood of Sparda rushing through their veins. V? V has no such markers and yet everything about him whispers in the ear of all those he passes about power. More power. A devilish sort of promise that will one day lead to a tragic fate for the summoner himself. Power like what he’s using and what his blood is offering to all who are listening isn’t meant to be contained in a human vessel, of that Dante is a hundred percent sure; and yet – somehow V is still here. Walking around in that almost obscene outfit with his poetry and his familiars despite all the reasons arguing against it.

And that’s all long before he gets to the issue of the Yamato shard. That leaves Dante with more questions than he would ever like to have about a supposed potential ally. How did V get it? At what point was he in contact with whoever took the sword from Nero? No, not just in contact, but in a position where he was able to run away with a piece of the Yamato and come to Dante to tell him everything? Well okay, not everything, but enough. More than enough, which also begs the question about how V knows about Vergil’s plans to resurrect and how he found said information without being immediately killed afterwards.

Not just that, but why does V care? He’s pitted himself against the first-born son of Sparda with this whole insane crusade. It’s an unbelievably stupid thing to do and V strikes Dante as exceedingly careful and possibly manipulative, but definitely not stupid. Which means that none of this makes sense, or at least not with the information that Dante currently has to work with.

 _“Unless it comes after us, we’ve no reason to go poking the bear with a stick. Not with your current condition. You need all the strength you can save.”_ The words V’s little demonic avian friend said comes back to Dante. It brings back up the issue of V’s fragility. Human bodies aren’t meant to do what V is asking his to do with the demonic taint and the contracts and muting Yamato’s call, and no matter how much stubborn will the soft-spoken poet has - his is no different. It’s crumbling around him, slowly but surely. He has to know, he has to be feeling it each second of every day and that makes it make even less sense why someone who would need to be exceedingly thriftful with their power usage would willingly go down to face a demon before it could help itself to an all you can eat buffet of humans stuck on a train.

Granted, no one was gorging themselves on humans today. Not here at least. If V hadn’t gotten up to go deal with it, Dante would have. After all, it’d already woken him up at that point and this was his world, not those twisted fuckers and surprise surprise, Dante’s possessive. However, the action on V’s part to go certainly puts a checkmark in the box of ‘V might not be telling the truth but he might not be a bad guy’ when V makes it clear that he can’t stand idly by while humans are threatened, his own health be damned. It’s nowhere near enough for Dante to even begin trusting him, after all for all Dante knows it was all an act and a performance for Dante’s benefit.

Maybe V knew he was awake. Maybe V was counting on it. Maybe V was playing with it.

It’s been a while since Dante’s hidden and contained his own demonic presence this much so that he can sneak up on V without the other man being aware of his audience. He hasn’t really done it since he was little and new to all of this running alone bullshit, but apparently, it’s a lot like riding a bike. Who knew?

 _“ **…V…The broken boy…shattered and left to crumble to ash…** ”_ The demon that is attempting to force its way into the human realm taunts V and it makes Dante even more curious. This demon follower of Vergil knows V by name and apparent reputation? ‘The broken boy’? What does that mean? _“ **You took something with you…he wants it back.** ” _The Yamato shard? Or something else? There’s no way to know right now and that irritates Dante a lot more than he would like.

“He doesn’t get it.” V almost seems to snap back in a tone a lot harsher and firmer than the usual one that Dante’s gotten used to him speaking in. It’s clear that these two aren’t allies, of that Dante can guess and it at least answers that question for Dante even if so many more are still left unanswered.

 _“ **Little Lamb…His Little Lamb.** ”_ The demon taunts. _“ **How cute…you may think you’re one of them, Little Lamb, but you are not…** ”_ Clearly there’s something about that sentence that triggers V because the man orders his familiar to attack.

“That’s not good V.” The bird says once V has dispatched the lingering connection to the human world. “Urizen is looking for you already. That’s bad news, really bad news. It’s too soon.” Urizen? Who is Urizen? Someone else helping Vergil? Another demon?

“That…is precisely what Dante is for.” V says and his words come out with a kind of strained, breathy quality to them. Like he’s been exerting himself, and with how Dante can feel his demonic power leaking out around him like a sponge losing water, he would say he has been.

Dante quickly makes his way back up to their car, laying down and painting the exact same picture that he made when the other man left him there. He realizes that he didn’t really need to rush when it takes V a little while before he returns, actually leaning on his cane slightly as he does. There’s a shakiness to his legs that he’s trying to hide as he takes a seat.

“Everything alright?” Dante asks, pretending that he didn’t follow him.

“It’s been handled.” V tells him and Dante gives a throwaway response to that as they fall into silence. There’s a moment some time later when Dante hears him pull out that book that he’s always reading and he hears the pages shuffle slightly.

“What is it V?” The bird asks.

“’Little Lamb who made thee, dost thou know who made thee?’” V reads from the page and there’s a certain level of irritation in his tone. “Little Lamb indeed.” He says as Dante hears the book snap closed.

Little Lamb, that’s what the demon referred to him as. Who’s ‘Little Lamb’? Vergil’s? This Urizen character? How would either of them know that was in the book that V holds unless they’d read the book themselves? How well did they know V that they knew what words were inside his favored tome in such a way to taunt him with it?

_What are you V?_

_Who made you? What does that mean? Literally? Figuratively? The ‘Broken Boy’ and the ‘Little Lamb’? What do those titles mean? Why would Vergil give them to you?_

_What aren’t you telling me? What is your true role in all of this?_

Those thoughts and questions keep rambling about in his head the rest of the trip.

\----------

The hospital that the arrive at in Fortuna has certainly seen better days if the cracked walls and foundation are any indicators. Still, it’s lively and populated with staff and visitors alike going up and down the halls like little ants in a maze.

Dante seems to know exactly where he’s going and V just follows behind him as they approach a young woman sitting in the waiting area with a small Styrofoam cup in her hands. She looks up as Dante approaches and a smile reaches her face as she throws the cup away and stands, opening up her arms and hugging Dante when the other man comes close enough for it. V’s a little surprised with Dante’s easy acceptance of the gesture, even going so far as to give a small hug back.

“Hey Kyrie.” Dante says softly to her. “Sorry it took me so long.”

“It’s okay.” She says, before pulling back. “Did you find them?” She asks and Dante shakes his head.

“No, not yet, but I’m working on it.” He replies and her eyes seem to notice V at his place leaning up against he wall waiting for Dante and Dante sees the look and shrugs. ‘That’s V. He’s helping too.”

“Oh, hello V.” Kyrie greets, coming over and offering a hand to him. “I’m Kyrie.” For a moment, V just stares at the offered sign of greeting wondering what he should do with it before he slowly reaches out and shakes it.

“Hello.” He offers, letting go quickly and she gives him a smile before turning her attention back to the other man.

“There’s still been no response.” She tells him and there’s a tiny wobble of concern or fear in her voice. “The doctors don’t know what’s wrong. They think it’s psychosomatic to a point since all of his tests show that he should be awake but he just…isn’t.”

“Hey, none of that crying.” Dante says gently. “That’s why we’re here. To see what’s going on and get him back up on his feet.” He promises and she nods, wiping at her eyes. “Where is he?”

“This way.” Kyrie says as she starts to lead them through the halls. “Thank you again.” She continues. “For stepping in. I don’t think that we could have kept him here if you hadn’t-”

“Don’t even mention it.” Dante cuts her off. “You’re family. I don’t turn my back on family.” _Maybe you should Dante._ V thinks to himself as he follows them silently. _Maybe it would be better for everyone else if you did. Maybe none of this would be happening if you had._

V won’t deny that there’s a tiny bit of curiosity eating away at him in regards to Nero. He’s heard of him, the next generation of the Sparda lineage. He knows of Nero’s existence and how he aided Dante in preventing some cult a few years back and how Dante took the boy under his wing and gave him his precious ‘Devil May Cry’ namesake and yet V knows nothing of the boy’s origins. Is he a child between Dante and the female demoness Trish? Or is he perhaps a child between Dante and some random human woman that V knows nothing about?

It’ll certainly be odd to engage with his nephew in this form, especially considering how he can’t be forthcoming with any of this.

“You paid for his hospital stay?” V asks Dante quietly as they are led through the halls and Dante nods. “Curious.”

“Why is that so curious?” Dante whispers back and he sounds like he’s not sure if he should be offended.

“I was just under the impression that times were…tight for you, money wise.” V replies and Dante huffs with a wave of his hand.

“Not really.” He says. “I just forget to pay the bills on time, and I don’t correct anyone when they think I’m poor. Makes them less likely to ask for a handout.” He shrugs. “Plus, I’m easy. I don’t need a lot. Just some pizza and a roof over my head.”

“I think I was grossly overcharged then if that’s all it would have taken.” V says and Dante gives him a quick grin. “I am surprised that the boy has not awoken.” V points out. “Are you sure he yet lives?” Dante’s jaw clenches at the comment.

“Nero’s tougher than that. He wouldn’t die to some no-name demon taking something that doesn’t belong to them.” _It doesn’t belong to you either, Dante._ V can’t help but think yet he doesn’t say it aloud. It doesn’t take them much longer before they enter the room of the young demon hybrid. V stays back as Dante goes over to the bed. “Hey kid, time to wake up. Up and at ‘em. We’ve got shit to do.” Dante says, reaching out to shake the young man’s shoulder. It’s clear the familial connection between the two with the white hair a glaring sign to his heritage. V’s thoughts of the similarities is halted when he hears a soft sounding hiccup and he glances over at the woman standing on the other side of the open door. 

She hasn’t gone over to the bed, staying back with V and she’s staring at the man on the hospital bed with watery eyes. This whole event is clearly taking its toll on her and there’s something inside of V that twists at that.

“He’s not dead.” V says to her and she glances at him. “Losing the Yamato must have taken far too much of his own strength, he is probably merely weakened and in a hibernation like healing state.”

“He isn’t healing.” Kyrie points out and V looks at the stub that she’s right about. It should have reformed itself by now.

“Not all healing is physical.” V says carefully. “If his…other nature took a harsh hit it could be attempting to store and rebuild it’s energy.” Kyrie’s face looks so hopeful, like she’s willing to buy whatever V is willing to sell if it makes it sound like Nero is just fine and that the boy is just going to sit up and roll of that bed and back into her arms any moment now.

As painful as it is, something about Kyrie makes him think of Eva. The human woman who loved a monster despite everything working against them. The human woman struck down in her own home while her children were torn apart because of her love for a demon. It hurts, a deep ache that V isn’t sure what to do with. “Perhaps I can assist in facilitating his healing schedule.” V finds himself saying and inwardly he curses himself as she glances back at him with those eyes.

“You can?” She asks and he tilts his head.

“I believe I may know of a way to potentially aid him.” V says carefully and she reaches out and puts a hand on his arm.

“Please.” It’s one word, one word that breaks down any intention to backtrack in his offer. He nods to her slightly.

“I would not recommend that you remain in the area when I attempt to do so though.” He tells her. “It may be…unpleasant to witness.” Kyrie glances from him to Dante and Dante stares at V for a few seconds before he nods.

“Go Kyrie. I’ll keep an eye out.” He tells her and she nods, turning and leaving out the door, closing it behind her.

“Oh no. Don’t even think about it V.” Griffon forms on his shoulder when he steps forward. “You don’t have the power to spare.”

“It would be worth it to have another at our disposal.” V says and the bird gives him a look like he knows that V isn’t really thinking about Nero and how useful Nero could be, instead he’s thinking about the human woman whose pain has unsettled V enough to make a foolish decision.

“What are you thinking?” Dante asks. “What do you think you can do about this?” V doesn’t say anything to that at first, moving over to the other side of the hospital bed before he reaches out and puts a hand on the young man’s chest, closing his eyes and reaching out with his powers to see what he can feel.

What he gets back isn’t good, but it isn’t dire either. Nero will be fine, he just needs a jumpstart like V figured he might. Apparently he wasn’t wrong, losing the Yamato the way he did, with his own demonic power twisted and tied around it so tightly has left his demonic side traumatized and in retreat. “He will be fine.” V says to Dante. “He just needs energy.” V sighs and reaches to grab the small switchblade that he has clipped to the back of his belt. “And we do not have the luxury of time to allow him to restore it on his own.”

“What do you think you’re doing?” Dante asks and V gives him an almost bored look.

“I’m sure there is no mystery about what I intend to do at this point.” V says, letting the blade slide free. Dante frowns.

“Yeah, I’m with the turkey on this one.” He says, reaching out and putting a hand over the hand that’s holding the blade. “You’re in no condition to be feeding anyone.”

“If there is another nearby that would suit better, then I am all ears.” V tells him, calmly pulling his hand back from Dante’s touch. “As it stands, there is only me. Unless you intend to find another viable human offering in the next few minutes?”

“You need all the demonic energy that you’ve got.” Dante presses. “We’ll just use mine.”

“In most cases, I would agree that yours would be preferred.” V tells him. “However, in the boy’s condition his demonic half may take your energy as a threat and retreat further.” He meets Dante’s eyes. “Naturally, that is not something we want to risk happening. He’ll rise to consume me.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“Because every demon does.” V says honestly. “My power does not manifest as a threat as you well know, and that is going to work to our benefit in this case.”

“V…think this through. We don’t need the kid.” Griffon tries to dissuade him and V just shakes his head. “He’ll kill you.”

“Not if Dante prevents that from happening.” V says as he looks back at Dante. “When he awakens, I’ll need you to restrain him until the rest of him returns to awareness.”

“Shit.” Dante mutters, rubbing a hand over his face. “Be honest with me for once.” He says. “How bad is this going to be on you?”

“I don’t know.” V admits slowly.

“I can give a good guess.” Griffon snaps. “Pretty fricken bad V. You don’t have the-” V holds up his hand and Griffon falls into silence before it makes an annoyed and almost angry sound before it morphs back into his tattoos to help conserve his energy.

“As long as you keep him from finishing the job, I’d say we’ll all be fine.” He takes a moment before he tilts his head. “Probably.”

“Why would you do this?” Dante asks. “Why risk yourself for him?” It touches too closely to all the things that V doesn’t want to tell.

“I need your assistance, and if we can wake the boy up, he could be a powerful ally in the fight against Vergil.”

“I don’t want Nero anywhere near Vergil.” Dante snaps immediately. _Oh, it’s far too late for that Dante._ V thinks. “And is it even Vergil that we’re going up against? Or was that just a convenient ruse to get me involved?”

“What do you-”

“Who is Urizen, V?” Dante asks and for a brief second, V can’t breathe. It’s like the air has been knocked out of his lungs.

“Where did you hear that name?” V asks as he wracks his brain for where he slipped up. As far as he knows, only Griffon and him refer to the pure demonic half of what was left behind during the split as Urizen.

“Who is he V?” Dante asks again and V takes a moment to consider how to answer.

“Urizen, the demon king.” V says eventually. “Or at least that is how I have come to know him.”

“Who is he?”

“I believe he _is_ Vergil, just by another name and in another form. It would not be the first time.”

“What makes you think that?”

“He possesses the Yamato.” V replies. “He is the one who stole it from the boy.”

“And you didn’t think that was important information that I might have needed to know?”

“I hired you to stop Vergil’s designs, of that I have not been untrue.” V replies to Dante’s growing distrust. “Urizen is whoever or whatever he is. The only thing for certain about him is that he is connected to Vergil and Vergil’s return. Be he Vergil himself or just a powerful pawn.”

“And how are you connected to all of this?”

“I told you once already.” V says. “As an unwilling third party.” Dante just gives him a look at that.

“What are you V?” He asks and V shakes his head. That’s not an answer that Dante gets to have. Not now and maybe not ever.

“I am someone who wants to stop Vergil at any cost.” V replies. “Anything more than that, well I guess time will tell.”  Dante searches his face for a few moments and he must see the truth in V’s words because he nods to himself and looks down at Nero.

“So…how are we going to do this?”

“The same way it’s always done.” V replies, putting the blade against the flesh of his inner arm. “Human blood is where demons get their power from as you well know. Mine is a little…more intense, but it’ll serve our purposes just fine. Not to mention that it’ll be power freely given. It should be more than enough to wake him.”

“Have you ever done this before?”

“Do you honestly think I have?” V asks with an arched eyebrow and it’s clearly not what Dante wants to hear because his frown deepens.

“You know it’s going to be…intense.”

“So I’ve been told.” V admits. “Yet we are out of time and are committed to our current course of action.”

“Shit.” Dante mutters oh so helpfully again.

“I don’t have to worry about you when I do this, correct?”

“I don’t take what isn’t freely given.” Dante tells him firmly. “Don’t worry about me. Hell, I’m thinking we’re going to close the loop when you’re done anyways.”

“Close the loop?”

“You give him yours, I’ll give you some of mine.”

“Under no circumstances.” V tells him. “You cannot just-”

“I can do whatever the fuck I want to do with my own blood.” Dante cuts him off. “And if you’re going to be edging closer to death to bring the kid back, then I’m going to help pull you back.” Dante looks at him. “Besides, you could use it.”

“I don’t need your pity.”

“And I don’t need you dying.” Dante throws back. “If you die, I lose my in on whatever Vergil’s planning. So like it or not – if we do this, you’re getting some of mine.”

“What makes you even think that I can absorb demonic energy like that?” V challenges and Dante gives him a ‘do I look stupid?’ glance.

“There’s no way you’re summoning anything with your levels if you’re not getting some kind of top off from the demons you kill.” Dante says and V frowns inwardly. He’s not wrong, but V doesn’t like that Dante’s figured him out even that much. “What’s the problem here V? You help him, I help you. Simple transaction.” V goes to argue, but he can tell that this is already a losing battle and like he’s been warning Dante of this whole time, they don’t have the time to waste arguing.

Letting out a sigh, V gives Dante a slightly curt nod before he pushes the blade down and watches the skin split around it. The tattoos want to close it up and use his demonic essence to heal the wound but V holds it back.

“’The Rhine was red with humane blood…’” V mutters softly to himself, amused slightly at the poem that’s risen to the forefront of his mind.

_Is this thy soft Family-Love, Thy cruel Patriarchal pride, Planting the Family alone, Destroy all the world beside?_

_A man’s worse enemies are those of his own house and family._

He pushes the words to the back of his mind as he brings his arm down to the unconscious man’s mouth. He tries to ignore how his heart starts practically racing inside of his chest as he waits for the inevitable conclusion of such an act.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> V quotes 'The Rhine was Red' from William Blake and the excerpt is just more from that same poem.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally Friday! (I've been wanting to post this all week and fighting myself about it) Hope it was worth the wait!

For a few tense moments, nothing happens.

There’s just the steady beep of the heartrate monitor in the background offset by the two men’s tight breaths. The lack of response doesn’t mean that the atmosphere in the room is any less charged, which honestly just puts Dante even more on edge and he’s pretty sure by how tight V’s body language is that the other man feels the same way. What they’re doing here is necessary, of that Dante will admit, but it’s tantamount to playing with fire.

No, no that’s not entirely true. What _V_ is doing is throwing napalm on top of a fire and hoping that he doesn’t get burned to ash and Dante’s just here to contain the blast when it goes off. However, if this whole plan goes sideways in one of the dozens of ways that it could, then it’s not Dante who will be baring the weight of such a mistake – it’ll be V pulling the short end of that stick.

Any moment now, the demonic side of Nero that’s gone dormant after the attack is going to wake up to the lure of the blood dripping down it’s throat and when that happens, he’s going to go directly for V and for more than V will want to give. Dante very much doubts that his little familiars are going to be much help when that happens or be able to protect him if Dante slips up for even a second.

Sure, Dante’s more powerful than Nero is. Even more so right now, but what they’re doing is going to bring forth something a lot angrier, a lot hungrier and a lot more feral than what Dante’s used to dealing with when it comes to the kid, and the kid can be a tough little shit to deal with when he wants to be. Nero got close to such a thing when he first triggered and reformed the Yamato, but Dante was able to help him cool off and get a bit of that in hand. Now though? Now they’re about to deal with the full force of that side of Nero and Dante can only hope that he can snap the kid out of it quickly.

Dante glances up at V for a moment, and he’ll admit that he’s a little surprised that the summoner has agreed to do this. If he were any less inclined to believe in V’s possibly manipulative nature then he’d go so far as to say the only reason why he’s going to help Nero isn’t because Nero could be useful, but because of Kyrie.

Because Kyrie was crying, and V couldn’t take it.

It’s funny in a strange sort of way. How has he lived this long if his obvious weakness for humans is so easily exploitable? Because this? Dante doesn’t believe for a second that any of this is about Urizen or Vergil or anything regarding V’s ‘mission’. This is about a man who saw someone else in pain and immediately offered to put himself up on the chopping block to ease it.

_Crazy foolish marshmallow._

“Not to be a downer, but this is a bad idea V.” Dante can’t help but say out loud as they wait and V lets out an almost amused sounding huff as his lips twist up into a smirk.

“It’s a little late to change course now Dante.” V tells him, and he’s not wrong. There’s no time for a response from Dante because in a second everything changes.

The room gets a certain kind of familiar pressure that preludes a powerful entity coming forth and Dante rolls his shoulders as V’s own tense up even more.

It’s showtime.

Nero’s hand jumps up and grips V’s arm suddenly, holding it firmly to prevent it from getting away from him. V makes a soft sound of pained surprise at the action and jerks slightly when it happens in some kind of self-preservation instinct but Nero’s grip is firm and probably nigh unbreakable to the human caught in it. Dante’s fingers itch to intervene, but it’s not time yet. V flexes his hand as Nero takes one of his first real pulls of energy from him and he clenches his jaw.

“Still good?” Dante finds himself asking, checking in on the other and V gives him a tight nod.

“It’s fine. Just a bit more-” V starts to say before he cuts off with another surprised sounding noise, this one’s slightly different from the last one as his breath catches and he stumbles over whatever words were going to finish that sentence. The tattoos on his skin seem to ripple with Nero’s sudden gluttonous pull of V’s energy and Dante figures he shouldn’t be surprised that Nero would take so much more than he’s being given like a child demanding more sweets. V curls forward slightly, his other hand dropping his cane which clatters loudly against the linoleum floor as he’s forced to brace himself on the bed next to Nero’s head.

The heartrate monitors are practically shrieking and Dante yanks the chords out to prevent the sound from grating on his nerves anymore than it already is. V seems to convulse slightly, dropping his head to rest against the back of the hand that’s now clenching the sheets tight enough to lighten the skin around his knuckles. He makes another noise, soft and slightly muffled against the skin as Nero takes and takes.

“V? Check in.” Dante says and V makes a nodding motion but he doesn’t say anything and Dante doesn’t like it. “Words V. Now.” The other man doesn’t respond to the demand, but his body is wound so tightly that Dante’s afraid he’s going to snap at any moment. “Okay, I’m ending this. That’s it, fun’s over kids.” Dante says, stepping in.

He reaches out and unfurls Nero’s fingers from around V’s arm despite the warning growl the kid gives him and surprise – he doesn’t like it when his feeding source is taken away from him. Things get a little complicated for a few moments, with Nero managing to snap his hand up and smash it into Dante’s face that snaps Dante’s head back and makes him let go for a brief second and instead of following through with his attack, Nero hones in on the source of the blood and immediately tries to grab at V who stumbles back in his haste to get out of the other man’s reach. He doesn’t get far though, tripping on unsteady and weak legs and Dante hears the soft cry he gives when he gets the wind knocked out of him when he crashes down onto the floor.

He doesn’t get up immediately, but his two familiars form themselves instantly from the ink on his skin and the jaguar places itself between Nero and V with a snarl and a swipe of it’s claws while the bird rests on the man’s upturned shoulder and flails out it’s wings in a clear warning of potential aggression if Nero makes a move against their currently downed contract holder.

They didn’t need to bother though, because Dante’s back in the fight as he gets a good grip on Nero by the back of his shirt and shakes him hard once before tugging him back down onto the bed and holding him down with a hand on his chest. He has to catch the other arm that’s flailing and trying to punch him in the face again.

“Come on kid, snap out of it. I thought we were past this already.” Dante says as the glowing eyes don’t seem to register what’s being said to him. On some note, it’s a good sign. That means that when the Yamato left Nero that he didn’t lose his power, that’ll come in handy.

That’s how Kyrie and the nurses and doctors brought forth by the machines and the noise find them. With Nero halfway to a demonic turn being held down by Dante and a giant jaguar and a large bird creature in the room.

…which of course leads to one of the nurses screaming, which just instructs all the others to shriek as well and take off in a panicked need to flee from the immediate danger, yelling down the halls for help.

 _Shit_.

The only good thing that Dante can say about the inopportune freak out is that the screams catch Nero’s attention and he looks at the door, only to see Kyrie still standing there and it’s like all the fight leaves him in a sudden exhale of air.

“Kyrie?” Nero’s confused voice asks a few seconds later as his eyes return to normal and the demonic parts of him retreat and Kyrie nods, rushing forward and practically throwing herself over the man on the bed who gently curls his arm around her in response. Dante can’t fight the smirk that tugs at his lips at the image. The power of love folks, one night only.

“What were you thinking?” The bird’s voice catches Dante’s attention and he looks to where V is still on the ground, breathing irregularly as the demon on his shoulder starts to peck at V’s ear in irritation. “Were you thinking at all? Do you have a death wish? You die we die, remember that genius?”

“It worked didn’t it?” V asks quietly like he’s trying not to draw any attention from those on the bed over to himself and Dante takes in how tired and strained his voice sounds. The cat goes over and picks up the fallen cane in its mouth before it brings it over to V and V takes it with the softest smile that Dante thinks he’s ever seen the man give as he pats it on the head. “Thank you.” He whispers before he starts trying to push himself up. Dante almost goes over to help him even though he doubts it would be appreciated, but it’s unneeded because the bird grips the shoulder of the jacket and flaps to pull up while the cat puts its head under V’s arm and along his side, pushing up while the bird pulls to aid the man into a standing position.

It’s quite the image, the concern and the teamwork presented.

It takes V a moment to get his feet under him, resting heavily on the cane as the two familiars fade away and he doesn’t look back as he uses the wall and the cane to leave the room. Dante wonders if it’s a pride thing, or maybe a survival instinct to get out of the area of the still potentially volatile man on the bed.

Dante’s prevented from following immediately when there are sounds of rushing feet coming their way and the doctors return with the security force who already have their guns out. What they see is probably not what they were expecting because what they get is a room full of people acting as innocent and confused as schoolyard children pretending that they’ve done nothing wrong when they clearly have. After a few minutes of fielding questions about the ‘giant cat’ and an overdramatic, over the top rant that Dante has far too much fun with about ‘what kind of establishment are you running here?’ the doctors and the security leave them in peace to go scour the halls for the ‘escaped zoo creatures’.  

“What happened?” Nero finally manages to ask, his awareness finally fully kicking in as his attention turns to his missing arm and he slowly reaches out but stops short of touching the area.

“What do you remember?” Dante asks and Nero takes a moment.

“Nico and I were in the garage?” He starts slowly and Kyrie nods along with him. “We were working on the van?” There’s the moment where it’s clear the memory resurfaces and Nero’s hand clenches into a fist. “Some demon came into the garage…he just…he just ripped it off.”

“Yeah, you’ve been in a coma for a few days since then kid.” Dante tells him.

“A coma?” He looks around the room for the first time. It takes him a few moments to settle and adjust to the new information before he turns back to Dante with a kind of fire in his eyes. “Who took it?”

“Your arm?” Dante asks and Nero gives him a look like ‘don’t be stupid old man, _of course my arm_ ’. “A demon did.” Nero gives him an even more irritated look and Dante struggles with what to tell him. He doesn’t want to tell Nero that it’s possible that his father sent someone to do this to him. Or worse, that Vergil himself managed to somehow step into the human world without his energy warning Dante about it and did the deed himself while leaving Nero to die in a pool of his own blood.

“A name Dante.” Nero snaps. “I want a name and then I want to go kick his ass. Unless he’s already dead.”

“He’s not.” Dante says with a shake of his head. “We’re working on it.”

“I want in.”

“That’s really not necessary kid. We’ve already got all the help we need.” Dante tries to dissuade him. “You’re still on the mend, you need rest not to be running off into whatever bullshit this guy is doing.”

“I’m coming.” Nero says and there’s so much stubbornness in his words. “You gave me that sword to look after… I _promised_ I’d keep it safe and some asshole walked into my _home_ while Kyrie, Nico and the kids were there and just took it.” Nero shakes his head. “No, I’m coming.” It’s final and Dante can sense it. Crap, so much for holding out hope that he’d be able to convince him to sit this one out. Nero pushes himself up. “Besides, I feel _great_. Like I could take on the world.”

“Do you now?” Dante mutters to himself as he glances at the door where V has disappeared. “Well, if you’re dead set and determined then I guess say your goodbyes. I’ve gotta go check in on V.”

“V?”

“Didn’t get the guys name before chowing down on him? And here I thought I taught you better manners than that kid.” Dante pokes fun at Nero for a moment and Nero’s eyes widen as he reaches up and wipes at his mouth. “I’m just playing with you.” Dante tells him. “He offered to get you back on your feet and we took him up on it.”

“Who is he?” Nero asks, still clearly unsettled about the new information he’s processing. He did still get so squicky about the more demonic half of things at the randomest of times.

“Isn’t that the million-dollar question?” He mutters more to himself than Nero but the kid gives him a look at that. “Don’t really know, but he claims he’s here to help; and he did just get you back up on your feet so I guess my tolerance for his secretive bullshit has just gone up a slight bit.” Dante says. “But I’ve got to go check up on him. Won’t look good on my record if the guy who hired me to play bodyguard gets offed while I’m just standing around and chatting.”

“You’re protecting him?” Kyrie asks confused. “From whom?”

“Yeah…not to clear on that one either.” Dante replies. “Like I said ‘secretive bullshit’, but cash is cash and he’s proving that he might be a good card to have in hand so I guess we’ll see.” Dante turns and goes to the door, waving over his shoulder. “Get caught up and then meet me outside. Kyrie, good to see you again.”

“You too Dante.” Kyrie calls after him as he closes the door behind him to give the two lovebirds privacy as he goes looking for their wayward teammate.

\----------

“Well that may have been…unwise.” V mutters softly to himself as he struggles to pull himself down the hallways. There’s a deep ache in his bones and a gaping hole of powerlessness and death that’s threatening to swallow him whole and he fights against it as he has since he was first torn asunder into this broken form.

Feeling fear again isn’t a fun experience, but there’s power in fear. Power that V needs, it keeps him on his feet and it keeps him moving so that the void can’t take him.

“Are you alright sir?” A nurse asks him and he gives her a shaky nod. She doesn’t look sold but she heads off to go do whatever it is she needs to do and V uses the wall to aid him in finding a hallway out of sight. It takes him a moment, and he leans back against the wall heavily while trying to catch his breath.

There is one good thing to be said of this, they have a new ally on their hands in the fight against Urizen. V figures that he’ll prove to be useful in some way if he even has just one tenth of the power that Dante boasts and hopefully less than half of his father’s foolishness. If not, then V doesn’t doubt that the attack in the garage has just put Vergil on Nero’s shit list for the rest of eternity.

The Sparda boys were always good at holding grudges.

V lets his head fall back against the wall as he closes his eyes and sets forth on the gargantuan task of settling the weakness leeching his strength from him. He needs rest, he needs to recoup what he’s just lost but they don’t have the time or the luxury for that. Urizen must be getting ready to make his move and V must be there to stop it, but he’s losing energy much quicker than he originally planned for, and it’ll start showing on his form soon enough if he doesn’t start taking precautions.

The small amounts of energy that Shadow and Griffon are able to provide him with won’t keep him patched together for long and the more powerful demons that give better energy come with the side effect of taking more energy to dispatch…but he can’t crumble yet. He needs to stop Urizen. Even if that’s the last thing he ever does on this earth.

“How are you holding up?” Dante asks and V barely holds in the jolt of surprise at the voice. He didn’t sense him approach, and with how Dante’s leaning up against the wall opposite from him with his arms crossed watching him, V isn’t too sure how long Dante’s been there.

Damn, he’s worse off than he thought.

“I’m fine. Do not concern yourself with the likes of me.” V tries to brush it off and undersell what’s going on with him. “How is the boy? Is he ready to go?”

“He’s saying his goodbyes right now.” Dante replies, those eyes searching and seeing more than V would prefer him to. “I thought it best to give them some privacy…You sure you’re alright? You got chowed down on pretty bad and that fall looked nasty.”

“You need not be concerned, I have things I must see through and I will not be hindered by this until I have seen them accomplished.” V says.

“Whatever you say Mr. Poetry.” He pushes himself off of the wall and steps into V’s space. “Alright, well here’s as good a place as anywhere to do this.”

“To do what?” V asks, impressing himself with how level he keeps his voice as Dante reaches out and tugs the side of V’s coat open before he slides his hand along the path of his belt. V’s about to ask him what the hell he thinks he’s doing when Dante’s fingers find the blade that V’s returned to its holster and pulls it out, giving the whole situation a clarity that V was missing moments before. “This is unnecessary.” He tries to tell him as Dante lets the blade flick out. “You should conserve your power. Who knows what foes we will cross?”

“I doubt giving you a tiny top off is going to keep me from punching just as hard as I would have before.” Dante replies. “Besides, I can hear you creaking from here. You need this.”

Need? Most likely. Want? Most definitely. But is it wise? There’s a certain…threat to this that Dante doesn’t realize. There is a…sweet spot in regards to V’s energy levels and while it is a struggle to maintain them, the threat of Dante’s blood pushing him over them is a viable one.  

“Dante, you should not-” V starts to say but Dante cuts him off.

“Don’t worry about it. Have you done this before?”

“…not directly myself, no.” He admits slowly.

“Well then, you’re in for a treat.” Dante shrugs. “I am gonna warn you though, it’s going to be like a kick to the pants.” He looks V over and V wonders what he looks like to the devil hunter. Does he look fragile? Like he’s about to fade away at the first stiff wind? “But something tells me you could use that, and so much more.”

“I don’t need-”

“My pity, yeah I heard you the first time.” Dante cuts him off. “But this isn’t pity V, it’s teamwork. The kid needed yours and you gave it, now you need mine and I’m giving it. Consider it evening the score if you need to.” Dante says this like a used car salesman trying to close the deal and he maintains eye contact with V as he slides the blade on his finger. “There see? Not that much. Don’t want to overwhelm your body with too much too soon.” He wiggles the finger in front of V’s face with a stupid looking grin on his face. “Get it while it’s still hot.” V doesn’t move, clenching his hands at his sides, but he can’t take his eyes off the blood coming out to the surface. Dante slowly moves his hand forward, like he’s waiting for a refusal or another rebuttal but the words dry up in V’s throat.

V can’t stop the thoughts of how it’d be like nirvana. Like strength and _power_. Power he so desperately craves no matter what form he takes. It’s not much, barely anything really and it shouldn’t even restore him to his levels pre-Nero although it might get him close.

…so, there’s really no danger in taking what’s being offered right?

Dante’s finger taps on his bottom lip, smearing blood on it that V can already sense and smell even with his dulled senses. “Come on, open up V.”

 _Damn him_. V thinks as his mouth opens and Dante’s finger slides inside. It’s like touching an electrical socket the second that Dante’s blood touches his tongue only to be followed by a fire. He can feel it burn through him and restore a good portion of what he lost to Nero and V struggles to keep his hands at his sides least he do something as embarrassing as trying to keep Dante’s hand where it is while he tries to pull as much as he possibly can in those fleeting seconds before the cut heals.

Dante doesn’t retreat until the cut has closed up and the transference stops. V’s not even sure when he closed his eyes as he blinks them open to see the devil hunter staring at him. V should say something to him, maybe thank him or remind him about the ticking clock over their heads, but V can’t seem to make his brain think of anything else but the blood still left behind on his bottom lip as he slides his tongue over it and sucks it into his mouth with a soft groan as his eyes close once more at the taste and the lingering taint of _power_.

He was always weak to power and it seems that’ll never change.

“ _Fuck V_.” Dante whispers like it’s punched out of him and that confuses V for a second as he opens his eyes to look at the other man again. Dante just stares at him for a moment before he slowly slides the blade back into its holder, standing still for far too long before he finally steps back out of V’s space and shoves his hands in his pockets. “I’m going to go get Nero. We should get ready to go.”

“Yes…That would be wise.” V says as he pushes himself off the wall. He can still feel that ache but it’s lessened considerably. It makes V have to stomp down any thoughts about how the pain could go away if he could just convince Dante to give him a little bit more…about how he could be a match for anything if he drained Dante dry. “I will go on ahead.” V forces out instead and he’s impressed how steady his voice sounds. “We’ll need an extra ticket for the boy if he is going to be joining us.”

“Yeah, couldn’t talk him out of it.”

“Very well. Make haste Dante, we have little time.” V says as he walks past Dante, never once turning around to see if the other man is watching him or if he’s already heading off to rejoin Nero. “That was…exceedingly unwise.” V says to himself, a mimicry of his early statement when he gets outside and walks down an alley towards his destination.

“No shit Sherly.” Griffon mocks, forming over his shoulder and flying to keep up with him. “Giving the kid power – dumb move…. but getting Dante to put out the goods?” Griffon makes a pleased sound.

“We cannot take the risk of doing such a thing again.” V warns him.

“I know, I know. The stronger your energy signature gets the more it’ll feel like Vergil, and then balls for brains will have _questions_.”

“Questions we can’t risk him asking.” V says. “It won’t happen again.” The look that Griffon gives him mimics the feeling inside of himself where he knows he’s lying. If the situation presented itself to him again, there’s no way he’d have the strength of will to resist.

_Damn you Dante._

                                               


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know that this is going up a day early, but I might not have the ability to post it tomorrow so I decided just to put it up now!  
> Enjoy and leave a comment on your way out!

There isn’t enough time for all of the things that Nero wants to say to her. ‘I’m sorry I put you through this’, ‘I’m sorry this came into our home and I couldn’t stop it’ and ‘I’m sorry I have to go’ are at the top of that list, but they’re not the things that Kyrie wants to hear right now. In fact, words seem useless to her as she just holds him tightly and he curves his arm around her and holds back just as much.

This is all his fault.

If he hadn’t been so careless, if he hadn’t let that stranger get so close…if he had been better prepared or if he had even just paid better attention and not turned his back to them then none of this would be happening.

Fuck.

This guy just walked into his home. Walked right up to Nero while Kyrie, the kids and Nico were right there and took the Yamato. If the gates to hell opened up then that would be on Nero’s head too. Dante trusted him with the sword, he’d left it in his care and Nero had been absolutely careless with it. He’d been too caught up in the power if gave him that he’d never once considered the thought of it being taken away by anyone else other than the other demon hunter.

Shows what he knows. And now something terrible is about to happen, and it’s only happening because Nero lost the Yamato.

He can sense the moment that Dante returns to the immediate area and Nero finds himself hugging Kyrie all the tighter for it.

“You have to go now, don’t you?” She asks softly against his shoulder and he nods.

“Yeah…sorry.”

“Don’t be.” She tells him. “I’m just glad you’re awake…I was so scared when Nico and I found you like that…” Kyrie cuts off, clearly upset by the memory and Nero pulls back to look at her.

“I’m sorry Kyrie, that should have never happened. I shouldn’t have let it spill out into our home.”

“I know what I signed up for Nero.” Kyrie scolds lightly, punching him gently on his good shoulder like she used to do when they were kids and he’d say or do something stupid. “I’m not mad it happened, I’m just scared that you were hurt.”

“Well I’m mad.” Nero admits honestly. “And I’m going to make the bastard pay for it.” He lets that promise settle between them. “I’ll call, as often as I can.” He says and she nods. “And good luck keeping Nico out of trouble while I’m gone. We both know that’s the real dangerous mission here.” He jokes and Kyrie lets out a soft laugh.

“Nico’s not as much trouble as you both pretend she is.” Kyrie says with a smile. “But we’ll be waiting for you to come home, okay?” She reaches up and touches the place where his demonic arm once rested. It doesn’t hurt but it certainly unsettles him. It’s still so recent and he hasn’t fully accepted the fact that it’s gone. “She’s been working on something for you nonstop since this happened. Says she’s almost done. She always knew this wasn’t going to keep you down.”

“Oh no.” Nero says with a shake of his head. “I’m not turning into one of her guinea pigs.” He sounds almost as scared as he should be at the thought of that, and Kyrie smiles easily.

“She knew you’d say that, and she told me to tell you to ‘deal with it’, only a lot more colorfully.”

“I can imagine.” Nero huffs out with an amused smirk tugging at his lips. “You tell her that she better fucking look out for you guys while I’m gone or there will be fucking hell to pay when I get back…but you know, less colorfully.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Kyrie laughs with a shake of her head. “You’re both impossible.”

“And yet, you still put up with us. So really, who’s the crazy one in this relationship?”

“You are.” She says, leaning up and giving him a small kiss. “You _both_ are.”

“Guilty as charged.” Nero says with a small smile. The door finally opens and Dante rests himself on the frame. Nero doesn’t see whoever this mysterious ‘V’ character is that the both of them have mentioned anywhere in the hall and he turns his attention back to the woman in front of him. “I have to go now Kyrie, but I’m coming back. I promise…wait for me?”

“Always.” She swears to him and Dante sure as hell better look away otherwise Nero’s going to have to kick his ass later when they do the whole sappy goodbye and Nero falls in line with Dante as they leave.

“You can still bow out.” Dante tells him as they leave the hospital. “Stay home with your girl. Heal.”

“I’ve got a score to settle with this bastard.” Nero repeats. “I’m coming.” Dante sighs at that and nods.

“Yeah, I figured I wasn’t going to talk you out of it, but no one can say I didn’t try.” Dante makes a motion to a side street with his head. “Come on, this way.”

“Where are we going?” Nero asks as he follows him.

“Train station. This was just a pit stop. I wanted to poke my head in and check up on you.” Dante replies. “We’re running a little behind now which is probably irritating the hell out of our tour guide, but I’m sure it’s fine.”

“So who exactly is this guy? V? What kind of name is V?”

“Don’t know.” Dante says with a shrug. “Barely know the guy so I can’t tell you much about him.”

“But you’re working with him? Why not Trish or Lady?”

“Trish knows what’s up, just in case and she’s already off to another one of these rituals to break it up. Lady’s on a case right now but Morrison’s going to get in contact with her and get her out here the minute she’s done. We’re going to need the help.”

“You’re admitting to needing help? Hot damn, the world must be fucking ending.” Nero says and Dante shoves at his shoulder with a huffed sort of laugh.  

“Hey, I’m the best but even I can’t be in two places at once.” Dante says. “According to V, this guy’s doing a huge demonic summoning ritual. V’s bringing us in as the annoying uninvited guests here to crash the party. My favorite kind of role. Trish and Lady will handle a few of them, we’ll handle the others. Hopefully, we stop whatever this is and then kill the ringleader in time for breakfast.” There’s something there, something in Dante’s voice that worries Nero despite the face the older, supposedly legendary, devil hunter is trying to hide.

“You don’t think it’s really going to be that easy.” He accuses and he stares at the other man who doesn’t look at him. “…you’re worried.” Nero says and the realization of that worries him. “You’re actually worried.”

“The Yamato is a dangerous weapon kid.” Dante says and Nero feels that crushing weight again. “A lot of damage can be done with it if someone less than savory gets ahold of it.” He reaches over and throws an arm over Nero’s shoulders. “But that’s why we’re here. We’re going to go get it back and kick this guy’s ass back to whatever hole he crawled out of.”

“…Dante…I’m sorry.” Nero says and Dante looks at him confused.

“For what?”

“You gave me the sword to protect it…and I failed.”

“You didn’t fail kid.” Dante says with a shake of his head. “Yamato has a will of its own. If it didn’t feel like sticking around then there’s nothing you could have done. Besides, I can’t even tell you the number of times that swords been lost. Tricky little bastard.” Dante glances at him and makes eye contact and holds it. “You didn’t fail Nero. Trust me on that, if what’s happened is what I think is what happened, then there was never going to be a way you were going to manage to keep a hold of that sword. No matter what you did.”

“What do you think happened?”

“…let’s just say that Yamato’s loyal and leave it at that for now.” Dante deflects and Nero drops it for now.

“So this V guy,” Nero starts, going back to safer waters. “What’s his story?”

“He says he’s here to stop a powerful demon from fully resurrecting.”

“Is it the guy who took my arm?”

“Yeah, same guy.” Dante replies. “V hired us to prevent that.”

“Do you believe him?” Nero asks and Dante lets out an almost amused sounding huff.

“Hell no.” Dante says and Nero arches an eyebrow in askance. “V’s a…strange guy, you’ll see. I can tell you that he’s deeply involved in all of this, but I couldn’t even begin to tell you how or what his motivations for getting us involved are outside of sheer firepower.”

“So you’re telling me that we’re pawns in this guys game?” Nero asks in disbelief.

“Everyone’s a pawn in someone else’s game, Nero.” Dante says with a shrug. “It’s just the way the world works, but yeah, sure. If you want to look at it that way.”

“Even you?” Nero challenges and Dante nods with a stretch.

“Especially me.” Dante says. “The more noise you make, the more powerful you are, the more likely it is to happen.” Dante nudges Nero’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. You get used to it.”

“If you think V’s using you, why not just say no?” Nero asks. “Walk off the board?”

“’Walk off the board’?” Dante hums. “That’s a nice sentiment, but it rarely works. Besides, in this case it’s a two for one special and I love those.”

“Two for one?”

“Hell yeah. A problem shows up at my door and a person comes in to pay me to deal with it? Me likey.”

“You’re a dumbass.” Nero can’t help the snort of amusement that forces its way out of him as he rolls his eyes.

“At least I’m not a dumbass that isn’t getting paid.” Dante replies with a grin. “No money to be made in this whole ‘saving the world’ gig on its own. Shame.”

“Yeah, real shame.” Nero shakes his head with a small smile.

“So, V’s at the station getting our tickets. He’s got the knowledge, he’s not good at sharing it, but he’s got it and we’re the muscle.”

“So he’s the brain and we’re the brawn?”

“That’s what I’m getting paid for.” Dante replies with a nod. “To punch things and look pretty.”

“I think you’re failing at the second one.” Nero pokes at him. “And I want a cut.”

“Always about the money. That hurts me Nero. Can’t just be here for the emotional support?”

“Not a chance old man.”

“Respect your elders kid.” Dante fires back easily. “Don’t make me have to take you over my knee again.” He laughs at the glare that Nero sends his way as they finally reach their destination.

The train station has people scattered all over it, waiting for either their ride to come in or for the arrivals to disembark. It’s odd, the sort of melancholy thought that pops up in his mind. He used to think of all the places that he’d go once upon a time. He’d run off and sit at the benches and imagine this great life he’d have when he was older before the sun would go down and either Credo or Kyrie would be sent to go collect him and bring him back.

Now though? Now Fortuna’s home.

And Nero will do anything to keep it safe.

There’s a strange feeling that rushes through Nero suddenly, and it makes him stop in his tracks. It feels like that itch under the skin that preludes a powerful demon arriving but it’s off somehow. Like it’s the rush and the excitement of such a fight and yet none of the danger. More like hearing a whisper that says ‘come play’ than a threat and some part of Nero, some part deep in his veins, wants to take it up on its offer. It puts Nero on edge like he’s waiting for something to happen and he glances at Dante real quick to see if the other man is feeling it too.

He must know something that Nero doesn’t – as per usual – because he’s got an amused look on his face like he knows exactly what’s going through Nero’s mind, but he doesn’t offer up any explanations.

Nero ignores him and glances around the area, searching for whatever that feeling is coming from when he zeroes in on him. There’s a man walking through the crowd in their direction. He doesn’t look anything like the people who come through here. There’s something deceptive in his slow gait and the silver cane in his hands that seems to be more for show than actual walking. The body looks fragile to the naked eye, but the man’s shoulders are sure and his head is high and proud. Nero doesn’t even try to stop the slow glance that he gives the man from those sandals all the way up the bare skin on display. He looks like one of those angel statues in a fancy museum. One of the ones painstakingly crafted by the masters, all perfect angles with an obvious sign of ‘do not touch the masterpiece’.

Nero isn’t certain what to say when the man stops practically in front of them, before he holds out something for Dante to take.

“Here.” He says. “Our train departs in ten minutes.” Wait, _this_ is V? Holy shit.

“Sounds good.” Dante nods. “Nero, meet our employer. This is V.” V doesn’t make any move to offer a hand to shake, instead just inclining his head to Nero and Nero might stumble over some form of ‘hi’ that Dante will undoubtedly tease him about for the next _century_ , but V seems to ignore it and says something about not being late as he turns and leaves, oblivious to all the eyes staring after him as he goes. “You okay there kid? Need a moment to collect your jaw off the ground? Maybe wipe some of that drool off your chin?” Nero socks him in the shoulder and Dante laughs good-naturedly.

“What the hell is he?” Nero asks, trying to shake off that itch under his skin as he looks in the direction that V has gone off in.

“Isn’t that the question?” Dante replies with a shrug. “Human, I think. Or some form of it. Who knows?” Nero takes a moment to let that settle before he turns and gives Dante a _look_. “What?” Dante asks, obviously confused at the sudden disbelieving glance that Nero is throwing his way.

“Uh huh. ‘What’ my ass. It all makes sense now.”

“What makes sense?”

“Why you’re letting him play you.” Nero replies. “Suddenly I’m no longer confused why you’re working with him if you don’t trust him.”

“Are you saying that I’m distracted by what he looks like?” Dante asks and his voice wobbles dramatically as Dante puts a hand over his heart. “That hurts me Nero. I’ll have you know that I’m a professional.”

“Professional my ass.” Nero snorts. “And bullshit if you think that I buy it for one second that you think you’re the one here to ‘punch things and look pretty’. _He’s_ here to look pretty, we’re just here to punch things.” Dante throws his head back and laugh for a moment at Nero’s words, before looking at him again with mirth in his eyes as he throws an arm over Nero’s shoulders.

“Well you’ve got me there.” Dante says with a smile as he walks with Nero to board. Nero pauses for a brief moment as Dante holds out their tickets for the ticket master, turning around and looking back where they’ve come from. _Take care of yourselves for me._ He sends a mental plea to the girls and the others. _I’ll be back as soon as I can._

\----------

It’s rather…unsettling how intensely the boy keeps looking at him. He looks like he’s trying to get some kind of read on V in some way and V almost wants to ask him to stop before he pulls something and hurts himself in the process.

He doesn’t though, mostly because it would just show that it’s unnerving him and then Dante will undoubtedly decide to ‘join in on the game’. So V does what V always does in these moments when people just stare at him, he opts to keep his nose in his book and pretend that he doesn’t register the attention at all. He would have been happy enough to pass the train ride in relative silence, but Dante seems to have other ideas in mind.

“So V, what exactly is that book you’re always reading?” He asks, doing a stretch as he looks at the cover before he relaxes into his seat while scratching a little at his tummy. “Looks boring.”

“To you, I’m sure it would be.” V can’t help but reply and Dante arches an eyebrow.

“You saying you think I don’t like to read?”

“Not at all.” V replies, flipping the page and not looking up at the other. “I’m merely saying that I would be surprised to find out that the words of long dead poets were your chosen media.” Dante makes a face at that.

“No arguments there.” Dante agrees. “So a whole book of poetry? That makes sense for you. That’s all that’s in there though? What kinds of poets?”

“Why?”

“Just trying to make conversation.” Dante doesn’t even try to hide how false that statement is and it makes V glance up over the top of the book in question to look at him. He just grins at the scrutiny. “Just trying to get to know you better.”

A truth and a lie intermixed together, interesting. What is Dante fishing for? V tries to return his attention to his book, but he doesn’t make it long with Dante staring him down before he relents.

“It’s a collection of William Blake.”

“Is that a name I should know?”

“He was a famous poet.” V says and he gets a blank look. “’Tyger, Tyger, burning bright, in the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye, could frame thy fearful symmetry?’.”

“Oh, I have heard that one.”

“Then you know William Blake. Congratulations.” V says and Dante leans forward and holds out his hand.

“Can I see it?” He asks and there’s something about the tone and gesture that strikes V as either a test or a challenge. Who knows, maybe both. Why is Dante so interested in the book all of a sudden? The request sits between them for a few moments before V snaps it closed and twists it around, offering it to Dante. Dante takes it from him with an almost mocking half bow before leaning back and crossing his legs obnoxiously as he opens it up and licks his finger, flipping a page.

If he tears a page or leaves a smudge, he won’t need to worry about Urizen killing him. V will gladly do it for him.

“So ‘V’.” Nero joins into the conversation finally, adding a strange stress to his name like he’s challenging him on it. Too bad, it’s the only name they get. The only name that V has any real claim to these days. After all he’s not Vergil, not really. Not anymore than Urizen is. No, all V is these days is a ghost fighting the hourglass. And for that, the initial will do. “This asshole, what’s he want and why?”

“I presume that his goals are rather simple in their loftiness.” V replies. “He wants power, and he’s willing to do anything to get it.”

“How are you involved?”

“Oh! I know the answer to that.” Dante butts in. “As an ‘unwilling third party’ ain’t that right V?” V glances at Dante who gives him a smirk that just makes V want to strangle him.

Dante always was good at pushing his buttons with the smallest of actions.

“You are correct.” V says as Dante looks over the images before flipping the pages again. There’s no way he’s reading it at the speed he’s going through, so why did he want the book?

“Yeah…this is…so interesting.” Dante says eventually, flipping through a few more pages. “Where’d you get it?”

“…It was a personal favorite of mine when I was a child.” V says with a tiny frown as he tries to get a read-on Dante. He knows that look, Dante’s fishing for an answer to a question he has and V’s very sure that it’d be dangerous to get ensnared on whatever he’s trying to hook and reel in.

“Oh yeah? Always been into poetry then?”

“I’ve had a respect for it over the years.”

“Years? I thought you were only two days old?” Dante pokes and Nero glances between them confused.

“That’s…a joke, right? Are you really only two days old?” Nero asks and V sighs.

“Infant Joy.” V says to that and he gets a confused look at his response. “’”I have no name: I am but two days old.” What shall I call thee? “I happy am, Joy is my name.” Sweet joy befall thee. Pretty joy, but two days old. Sweet joy I call thee: Thou dost smile, I sing the while: Sweet joy befall thee.’.” V recites calmly. “It is a poem by Blake. It is called ‘Infant Joy’.”

“So you’re not really two days old?” Nero asks and V tilts his head a little.

“Do I look two days old to you Nero?” He asks and Nero looks slightly embarrassed at what he clearly considers the other two men poking at his lack of knowledge about the demonic world and what is possible and what is not. V holds out his hand for his book and Dante looks at him for a moment like he’s trying to get a read-on V. “Is there a reason you’re so interested in my book?”

“You’re just always looking at it.” Dante says with a shrug as he hands it back. “I thought maybe it’d have a master plan or something written in here with how often you checked it.”

“My apologies for disappointing you.” V says.

“That’s alright.” Dante says with that grin and V struggles to keep the irritated sigh inside of himself. “We’ll be at the place soon. Think they have any good pizza joints?”

“You’re hungry?” Nero asks and Dante shrugs.

“Hey, I didn’t get to chow down on pouty lips here.” Dante says and Nero looks embarrassed at the remembrance, or maybe just the reference. “A man needs his pizza Nero.”

“You’re an idiot.” Nero huffs and V finds himself inwardly agreeing wholeheartedly.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, small notes for this chapter. I'm running with the idea that Dante has no clue about anything when it comes to the Qliphoth mostly because of how Trish and V both had to be the ones he turned to for information and who gave the information to the player in the game.  
> So, Dante isn't all that knowledgeable about various and random Underworld things. He knows demons, as he should. Not much else. He relies on his allies for that information.

When the train finally pulls into the station marked as their final destination, they hop off and try to blend in with the locals as best as they can with V at the helm garnering all kinds of attention from each person they pass by.

V leads them silently down a few streets, turning and picking strange alleyways that bypass whole sections of the city with a steady, almost leisurely pace.

“So illustrious tour guide.” Dante speaks up once they’ve been walking for a while. Stretching and lacing his fingers behind his neck in an image of nonchalant casualness. “Where to?”

“This way.” V replies without turning around. Nero semi-waits for him to give some other form of direction, but he realizes pretty quickly that it’s futile. He may not know much about V, but he’s starting to realize that V doesn’t give out more information than he feels he must at any point in time. It makes Nero glance at Dante who meets his eyes and shrugs with a ‘oh well, what can you do?’ sort of thought process.

“So, V.” Nero asks, figuring that its time to get a few answers regardless if the gothic looking model wants to give them. “What’s this guy after?”

“I believe I’ve already told you the answer to that.” V says, and he can’t see it when Nero shakes his head.

“No. You said he wants power. A lot of guys want that. That doesn’t tell us what his plan is or why he took my arm.” Nero points out and up ahead of them V looks like he barely holds in a sigh.

“Nero’s right.” Dante joins in, the amusement in his tone making it clear that he’s really only throwing in his lot with Nero right now because he wants to poke at the other man. “I’d like the answer to that too. I mean, we _should_ know more about the stakes driving this whole endeavor, shouldn’t we?” There’s silence from V for a good amount of time, so much so that Nero’s starting to think that either the other man didn’t hear them or has chosen to pretend he hasn’t. He’s about to say V’s name to force his attention when the raven-haired man speaks.

“He wishes to plant a Qliphoth.” He says in that soft, almost sensual – _not_ that Nero’s thinking about that – voice of his. There’s a heaviness in the word, like V expects them to take that information with a kind of concerned heaviness…and Nero glances at Dante to see if that sentence means anything to him but the older devil hunter seems to have no response to it either.

“Okay…so what the hell is that?” Nero asks eventually and this time V does actually stop and turns around to look at them with a look on his face like he’s not sure if they’re playing him or if they really are that stupid.

It’s clear he determines that it’s the second option a few moments later and he reaches up and rubs at his temples for a brief moment in a display of tired agitation.

“Do you truly not know your own history?” He asks when he finally seems to settle himself. “The Qliphoth is a tree that grows in the Underworld. It’s very rare, and it thrives off of human blood in order to produce one, very powerful fruit.” He holds up a finger to add emphasis to the number. Nero can’t help but wonder if those tattoos hurt going on when he does. They cover so much of his visible – and a lot of it is visible – skin and Nero wonders their significance. They leave a faint tang in the air that makes him think demonic power and yet, V still registers to him like Nico or Kyrie. Purely human in every way…. yet not. _What the hell are you V?_

“Seems stupid. One fruit? A lot of work for one bloody fruit.” Nero says aloud and V shakes his head.

“The fruit created by the Qliphoth grants immense, depending on how many lives went into its creation sometimes almost godlike power.” V warns him.

“…Okay. I could see how that could be bad. But what’s that got to do with us? Why would we know about it?” Nero questions and V turns his gaze from Nero to Dante.

“…because it is rumored that Mundus ate the fruit of the previous Qliphoth tree and with it was able to topple the previous king and take over the Underworld.”

“Hmm.” Dante finally joins in on the conversation at that. “You know V, I think that’s the most I’ve ever heard you say that wasn’t some kind of poetry slam.” He drops his arms and looks at the other man. “You know, it is odd to me though.” He presses on and V just waits for him to continue. “I’ve never heard of this tree or this story and yet – you seem to know a lot about the demon world. For a human at least.”

“Perhaps I just like to be well-informed.” V replies with an almost throwaway tone. “As one of us should be.” He turns around and the clink of the cane on the ground heralds his departure as he starts walking off again. “Come, we are not far.”

“What does he need Yamato for?” Nero asks, following behind.

“The act of bringing for the Qliphoth into the human world is not a simple one.” V responds. “He will need the power of the Yamato to open up the demon world in a much more stable solution than a manufactured hell gate.”

“So you’re seriously telling us that this guy took one of the most powerful devil bringers there is…and he wants to use it to play _gardener_?” Nero finds himself asking in disbelief. “ _That’s_ his big plan? Plant a tree and become supreme ruler of all?”

“Kid’s got a point.” Dante agrees and V’s body language makes Nero think that he might be inwardly cursing his bad karma that required him to work with Dante and Nero.

Not that the feeling isn’t slightly mutual right now. V…V’s a complicated equation that Nero’s not sure he has the skill set to solve. Even if he does end up having it, he’s not sure he’ll be able to solve it in time. Sure, Nero will give that there’s something about this man that makes Nero _want_ to give him the benefit of the doubt. If he’s telling the truth then he’s here and he seems thoroughly against any of this demonic tree bullshit that this asshole is planning. If he’s telling the truth then Nero can get behind him one hundred percent.

…but there’s something else inside of Nero that tells him that V isn’t the weak, calm or benevolent image that he presents to the world. There’s something that tells Nero that V could be the wolf in sheep’s clothing – _beautiful sheep’s clothing_ – and that turning his back on him could turn out to be one of the biggest mistakes that he might ever make in his life. After all, there’s this bastard going around ripping off people’s arms and planning to use the Yamato to make his own demonic chia pet and somehow this fragile looking not-fully-human just happens to know all of this information about his ‘master plan’?

Yeah, hell no. That’s way too fucking convenient for Nero to swallow easily. He doesn’t like it at all, no matter how distracting V seems to be to both devil hunters.  

Nero’s pulled out of his thoughts when he feels it. The demonic energy in the air that doesn’t belong to one of their group and he figures they must be at the place. He can’t see beyond the large cement wall in front of them but V stops and Nero jolts when some of the tattoos on his arms fade away and a demonic entity manifests out of some strange looking purple and black energy.

“What the fuck?” Nero snaps, getting ready to reach for his gun but Dante shrugs.

“Oh yeah. He does that sometimes. Did I forget to tell you about that? My bad.” The older hunter says and Nero almost hits him with his gun hilt just on principle.

“This is the place V.” The thing _talks_ and Nero feels like he didn’t actually think V could get any weirder…and yet clearly, he can.

“Guess you weren’t wrong.” Dante says with a roll of his shoulders. “Okay then. Let’s kick the ass of whoever is in there and then go get pizza. V’s treat.”

“Mine?” V asks with an arched eyebrow.

“Hey, I’m paid for in pizza remember? I’m about to go earn my keep.”

“I do believe I paid for more than pizza already.” V says with a shake of his head. “You’ll buy your own pizza.”

“Damn. Well, no one can say I didn’t try.” Dante says to Nero with a wink and Nero shakes his head with an amused huff. “Alright, Nero stay with V. I’m going to go handle this.”

“What?” Nero snaps immediately, taking a step towards the other and catching his arm. “I’m coming with you. I’m not going to just stand here and let you go have all the fun Dante.” Dante sighs and shakes his head.

“This isn’t about fun Nero. Half of the gig is keeping him alive.” Dante points at V. “Which means I’m trusting you with that. Keep him safe for me until I get back, okay?”

“Since when did you become the damsel in distress V?” The bird chuckles in the background. V balances his weight against the cane and holds up his arm, letting it come perch on it. “I mean, you _are_ pretty enough for it.” It says before cackling into its feathers and V gives it a small, slightly amused yet trying to pretend to be annoyed, glance.

“He doesn’t strike me as someone who needs his hand held.” Nero argues, motioning to the weird ass demonic bird on his arm – shouldn’t that be too heavy for him to hold up? He’s got like spaghetti arms and that thing must be at least a couple dozen pounds. They’re interrupted slightly by a kind of rumble from beyond the walls.

“We don’t have time for this.” V tells them firmly once the rumble finishes and Dante nods.

“Yup, on it. Nero, with V.” With that final statement, Dante takes off over the wall with a two fingered salute.

“He doesn’t seriously expect me to sit on the sidelines to babysit the entire time, does he?” Nero growls before he looks at V and the bird. “Uh…no offense.”

“Some taken hotshot.” The bird snaps.

“Even if that is Dante’s intention, it is not mine.” V says easily, already turning to walk around the walls as the bird takes flight to follow alongside him. “I agreed to Dante’s detour because you are a worthwhile addition to our mission.” _Damn right I am._ Nero thinks to himself at that. “It makes no sense not to make use of you.” V presses on. “Come.” He commands and Nero follows him easily.

“Where are we going?” Nero asks as the sounds of Dante fighting get a little quieter.

“To go deal with this.” V says calmly and there’s something about the way he says it that makes Nero frown.

“Isn’t that what Dante’s doing?” Nero points behind him. “Back there?”

“Dante is a…sledgehammer.” V says smoothly. “Useful for gathering a lot of attention in a very short amount of time.”

“Wait – are you saying you’re using Dante as what…a distraction?”

“Oh, we’ve got a fast on here V.” The bird mocks. “How on earth are we gonna keep up with him?”

“Hush.” V whispers to him softly although the word sounds amused and that pushes a final button for Nero.

“Look.” Nero says, coming up and stepping in front of V, halting the man’s progress. “I know we don’t know each other, but I need to be very clear with you on something.” V gives him a look that clearly says ‘get on with it’. “If you’re who you say you are and if you’re here to do what you claim you are – then you’ve got nothing to fear from me.” Nero takes a step forward into V’s space and the man has the gall to not take a step back at the threat, he just holds Nero’s gaze calmly. “But if you’re lying. If you’re playing with us. If it turns out that you’re doing all of this to get at Dante – if you _betray_ him…I’ll run you through myself. I won’t fucking hesitate.” Nero swears and V takes a moment, closing his eyes for a second as if settling himself before he clearly loses the battle with stopping the small smirk that slowly spreads on his face with an almost lazy casualness. He opens his eyes, pinning Nero with a look that tells Nero everything that V isn’t saying out loud right now.

V isn’t afraid of him.

Clearly amused by the threat, but not actually threatened by it.

“Noted.” V says and there’s a soft undercurrent of amusement in his tone as Nero’s threat settles between them. “Shall we press on now?”

“I’m not fucking kidding V.”

“Oh, of that I have _no_ doubts.” V almost playfully purrs at that and his voice is mockingly placating. It makes Nero itch, but V moves around him with all the grace of a dancer, almost brushing him as he steps past and he goes over to another entrance to the area. It’s a cemetery on the other side and Nero figures he’s not too surprised. There are demons present, doing some kind of strange jig or something. It’s weird.

“What the fuck?” Nero asks and V motions for him to go ahead.

“Your turn.” He says and Nero takes a step forward to look at the entire area. The demons seem to be prowling aimlessly, clearly wanting to go over to where Dante’s making a lot of noise but something holds them back from doing so. Orders maybe? Must be some scary son of a bitch if they actually listen even when they’re not nearby to oversee them.

“What will you be doing?” Nero asks after a few moments of taking in the area, preparing to go in there and he frowns when there’s no answer. He turns to look back where V was just a moment ago and the man isn’t there anymore. “What the fuck?” Nero finds himself repeating far too loudly and the demons let out a shriek as they finally see him. “Did he just ‘sledgehammer’ me?” Nero hisses as he pulls out his sword. “Oh, I’m gonna _kill_ him.”

\----------

The door to the crypt is unguarded, which is exactly what V was hoping for since both Dante and Nero were causing more than enough of a ruckus to garner the attention of every demon in the area and all nearby neighborhoods and have them rushing in to challenge them. It doesn’t mean that V thinks he won’t run into opposition, it just means that it might be less than originally intended.

V moves down the stairs as quickly as he dares, looking for anything that might jump out of the darkness at him or even just crumble under his weight and cause issues. He slides down into the catacombs like a ghost unseen by others. He figures if he is a ghost, he’s in good company down here.

V and Griffon quietly press on, following the old twists and curves to the open area that V knows rests down here. He doubts that there are many in the town above who actually know how much rested under their feet. Granted, most humans were blithely ignorant of just how much of their world was built on the memory of when the two worlds were connected. They were always quick to forget and to build over the old sites – the Temen-ni-gru is just one example of this.

Vergil came down to these catacombs once before, V has the barest of memories of that time. It was during the time that Vergil had been looking for alternative ways to awaken and receive the full power of Sparda before he found Arkham and decided on the path that led him to the tower and back to his brother. Where Dante might have spent those years bouncing back and forth from job to job, Vergil had been methodical and thorough. He’d learned everything that he could about his father – trying to sift through and determine the truth from the fiction – and about things like the ley lines that went through the city’s underground.

As funny as it is, Vergil had only originally learned the skill of magic as a kind of throwaway ability.

Back when he’d deigned to learn it, he’d only done so in order to be sure that it could never be used against him. Now though? If he hadn’t known what he learned then V wouldn’t still be standing here today, holding himself together and utilizing the demonic energy left in him and supplemented by his familiars. (And by Dante, but that was a one off.)

“We must be swift.” V whispers to Griffon and the bird gives a small nod as they make their way to where V knows the ritual to prepare the ground to receive a Qliphoth seed should be taking place. Urizen is undoubtedly trying to maximize his chances of getting one of the seeds to grab on in one of the major ley line locations. If V can stop them from prepping the land into a kind of nursery for the seed then he can hinder Urizen’s timeline and hopefully give Dante more time to fix…more time to right what Vergil has done wrong in his foolishness.

There’s the sounds of humming and chanting and V shares a glance with Griffon before they inch over to the doorway and glance around the corner to take in the room.

What he sees makes his whole body go cold and causes fear to tighten in his chest.

 _Urizen_.

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Notes for this chapter: 
> 
> I really struggled with deciding how I wanted to portray Urizen in this story since he’s going to play a bigger role.
> 
> In the end, I decided that if V retains so much of Vergil in him then it makes sense that Urizen does too. So don’t be surprised that Urizen is not at all like his game counterpart. I'm playing fast and loose with his portrayal - but hey, it’s an AU so what the heck. 
> 
> Oh and apparently, they’re going to be poking at each other. Or at least Urizen is to V.
> 
>  
> 
> And...I realize that I accidentally posted this chapter when I was trying to edit it (the dangers of having multiple chapters saved and the 'Post' button being RIGHT NEXT TO the 'Edit' button. So as such...I decided to say 'Oops my bad' and post it early - once I'd finished making new edits. So hope you all enjoy the result of my slip up and see you on Friday!

In a heartbeat, V twists and presses himself back against the side of the opening, hiding out of sight of the group down in the inner sanctum. His fingers grip around the cane a little too hard for a second and he has to mentally coach himself into loosening them as his mind immediately rushes through various scenarios as he looks down upon them.

He had not expected Urizen to be here. That’s…an unacceptable oversight on his part and one that he’s inordinately lucky won’t be immediately coming back to bite him. Thankfully, in this case what kept V from sensing Urizen is also undoubtedly working in the reverse to hide V from Urizen. The ley lines are thrumming with energy, the demonic ritual pulling them to the surface has flooded the area with too much power to sift through to determine a new arrival let alone the identity of said arrival.

It takes him a moment to take his eyes away from Urizen. It’s been only a few days since they saw each other last and yet the image is still burned in V’s mind like it had just happened mere moments ago. The memory of lying there, of watching the body convulse and change. The victorious cry that the demon no longer weighed down by its humanity gave while said humanity lay just feet away staring up in terror. He’s grateful that Shadow and Griffon fled with him before Urizen could fully form and have even a second to decide what to do with the fragile throwaway parts of Vergil. He rather appreciates not being a smear on the ground, a forgotten stepping stone in Urizen’s quest for power.

_And I saw it filled with graves, And tomb-stones where flowers should be; And Priests in black gowns, were walking their rounds, And binding with briars, my joys and desires._

There are a dozen possessed ‘sacrifices’ waiting around and kneeling on the ground in black robes with their hands curled around each other in a mockery of prayer. They won’t be too much of a problem if he has to face them head on, that much is certain even if he can’t sense their power levels right now, although never let it be said that demonic rituals don’t maintain a certain imagery and aesthetic.

There is another demon standing next to Urizen, a strange three headed creature riding atop the back of a rotting demonic bird, and V glances at Griffon down at his feet. Griffon looks up at him, understanding the silent question posed.

“Malphas.” He says quietly. “Bad news V. Very bad news.”

“Chances?”

“Not good.” Griffon replies with a shake of his head and V takes a deep breath as he nods once and looks back into the area. It’s not hard to come to the realization of what Urizen is attempting to do. Malphas stands, weaving demonic power over the sacrifices and the exposed lines in a clear intention to create the groundwork for a kind of demonic nursery of sorts for the Qliphoth seed.

That’s actually rather ingenious. Urizen is choosing to work around the incomplete Yamato. V figures he’s not surprised, after Moloch failed to retrieve the shard perhaps Urizen cut his losses and decided on a new course of action. He’ll still need the ley lines, of that V is sure, but it does mean that the Yamato can be used to enhance Urizen’s power unhindered by other requirements on it.

“He’s found a workaround.” V whispers to Griffon. “That…does not bode well.”

“The original was always a problem solver.” Griffon whispers back. “Guess you both got that skillset. Joy.” He looks up at V. “What are we gonna do V?” V frowns and looks around the open area. He needs a plan and he needs one fast. _Think_ he mentally scolds himself. He knows these catacombs just as well as Urizen does, and he knows their uses just the same. There has to be something, some weakness that he can manipulate. If this were _his_ plan, where would the weak spot be?

The answer, when it comes to him, is not entirely a good one.

“We need to get in there.” V whispers and Griffon looks at him like he’s insane. Who knows, with a plan like this then he just might be. “If we can interact with the spell as it forms, then we should be able to twist its purpose. Maybe cause it to backlash and fail.”

“And how do you intend to do that?”

“Urizen will need to use his blood for the ritual.” V says, looking around. “Which means mine will be recognized by it too.”

“You’d have to get in there without being seen.” Griffon hisses. “There’s no way you pull that off!”

“I don’t need to get down to the altar.” V says with a small shake of his head. “If I can find one of the access points along the outer walls then it just might be enough to manipulate it from there.”

“You’d be putting yourself within arms reach of Urizen.” Griffon warns. “And what happens _if_ you succeed?” He’ll know what happened instantly. He’ll know you’re here. He’ll know you’re in the _room_.”

“We are out of time and we have exceedingly limited options available to us.” V says in response to that. He takes a moment before he points. “That one. That’s our best chance.”

“You’re crazy!”

“Perhaps.” V says with a small smirk. “But that doesn’t make me wrong.”

“Don’t do this V. Go get Dante or hell the kid.”

“There is no time for that.” V argues with a shake of his head.

“Why did you leave them behind?”

“The benefit of hindsight is 20/20.” V whispers in response. “As it always is.” Griffon shakes his head in agitation, but he returns to V regardless as V lowers himself down and slowly starts to make his way along the outer rim of the sanctum. He’s never been so grateful for all the pageantry of a ritual before this moment. Usually, he remembers Vergil feeling a small amount of irritation at the time and energy put into those very pointless gestures, but it always made the rabble happy so it makes it to where things like that were necessary evils to endure.

It’s slow work, moving from pillar to pillar each time he thinks the coast is clear to move. He won’t deny how his heart freezes each time he shifts from one hiding place to the next, waiting for the inevitable moment where someone down there sees him. Each time it doesn’t happen he can’t help but run the numbers of probability in his head that lets him know with each successful move made that the next is more and more unlikely.

Down below, Malphas starts the next section as the sacrifices all start to slit their throats and pour tainted blood into the bowl on the altar. The spell is starting to wind up and V’s running out of time. He gets to the area he needs and he quickly reaches back and pulls out his knife and quickly puts it against his hand. The sting of the cut is distracting but he immediately gets to work drawing the necessary markers against the bricks. It’s not the most powerful or even the most articulate of spells that Vergil has ever managed, but V doesn’t have the time for that kind of showmanship. He just needs to get the job done.

V doesn’t even try to stop the little smirk that crosses his face when his efforts are rewarded in the single most anti-climatic moment he thinks he’s ever seen. Malphas has been shouting the final refrain of the spell, her arms tossed high in the air as Urizen pulls out the Yamato and slices his own hand to pour the blood in…and _nothing_ happens.

“What?” Malphas snarls, leaning forward and inspecting the failed spell. V pulls back and prepares to move from one pillar to the next to return to the entrance. He only manages to get past one before he hears it – Urizen’s soft chuckle amidst Malphas’s confused rage.

“So you’ve come.” Urizen says and the hairs on the back of V’s neck rise. V doesn’t dare breathe too heavily as he considers the wisdom of trying for the next pillar. It’s too much of a risk and yet staying in place is just as much of one. A metaphorical rock and a hard place, a situation that V doesn’t like to be in.

“We will try again my lord.” Malphas is saying and V chances a small glance around the pillar in time to see Urizen raise a hand to silence her.

“No. This location is no longer acceptable.”

“I can make it so.” She tries to implore him and the entire room shakes with a massive tremor as dust and dirt falls from the ceiling.

“You’ve brought Dante I see.” There’s another shaking rumble that answers that question for him. “I expected as much.” Urizen turns and V immediately moves to the next pillar at the opening presented. “Come, we depart.” The creature gives him an uncertain glance but she bows her heads and waves a hand, a giant demonic portal opening up at the movement. Well that explains how he’s getting around without the Yamato’s full power. Good to know.

Malphas waddles through the portal and Urizen takes a step towards it – only to stop at the last moment. He doesn’t turn around to glance at the room as he speaks again. “This is your victory, brother mine. Enjoy it.”

“We are not brothers.” V can’t help but say firmly in reproach to that statement. Something about the false title attributed to him settles inside of V like Urizen is mocking him in one of the only ways that matters.

“We are nothing else.” Urizen replies to V’s words like he’s just stating the simple, unvarnished truth and it makes V’s skin itch. “Does he know?” He asks and V is silent. He knows what Urizen is asking and he doesn’t respond. Urizen does that chuckle again. “I expected as much.” He repeats his earlier phrase. “Until next time, _brother_.” He says as he steps through the portal and it closes behind him. V steps out from behind the pillar, staring at the place where the other side of Vergil just stood.

“What was _that_?” Griffon asks, reforming next to him.

“…I don’t know.”

“He just _let you go_ V.” Griffon points out needlessly.

“I’m aware.”

“Why would he do that?”

“I don’t know.” V admits, unsettled. “…I don’t know.”

“Well I for one am all about not looking this gift horse in the mouth.” Griffon states with a sigh of relief and V takes a moment before he nods.

“I agree. We were lucky this time, I doubt we’ll be so a second.” He turns back towards the entrance. “Come, we must return to Dante and Nero.”

\----------

The demons that Vergil has chosen to throw at him, or ‘Urizen’ if V is incorrect in believing that demon’s true identity, are barely a challenge.

It’s almost disappointing, but it does allow for Dante to throw out quite a bit of sassy and sarcastic dialogue options across the battlefield which means that to a small point, Dante’s chill with it. There isn’t any demonic ritual happening where Dante is though, that much is clear, which means that V and Nero are undoubtedly off dealing with the real problem while Dante’s been left behind to make as much noise as he possibly can.

That’s cool. If there’s anything that Dante was born to do it was to stand out and to piss people off. It’s a calling really.

There is a moment in the fight however, when he knows that he’s being watched by an outside third party. A demon of some note that has decided to keep out of all the fun. It stays on the outskirts of the cemetery and when Dante’s finally bored and finishes hacking and dicing, he turns and points Ebony at them. Whatever they are, they’re wearing the shape of a rather pug faced man and Dante watches as they seem to bow their head slightly to him before taking a few steps back into the darkness of the street and leaving without issuing any challenge of its own.

_Odd._

“Well okay then.” Dante says to himself as he twirls his gun and replaces it in its holster. He doesn’t have time to go chasing that demon, and something tells him that he’s going to be seeing it again. He turns and shoves his hands in his pockets as he heads out to start looking for the younger devil hunter and the ever-mysterious summoner. It takes him a little while, where he has to rely more on the sounds of battle than any real ability to sense anything because something about this place has been throwing off his ability to pinpoint where anything is from the moment he leapt over the wall. When Dante finally finds Nero after a small amount of aimless wandering, the kid looks like he’s about to start spitting fire. There are dozens of dead demons littered throughout the tombstones as well as various other visual representations of the fight that has just tore through this area.

It’s clear that even with the majority of his demonic power currently in limbo that Nero is still a force of nature to be reckoned with. That’s good to know.

Dante lets out an impressed whistle as he comes over, stepping over a few demon carcasses. “Wow, working out some repressed anger there Nero?” Dante asks him with a grin and the other looks at him with an annoyed little huff as he slings the sword up to rest on his shoulder and that just makes Dante’s grin grow for a second before Dante notices that he doesn’t see a certain someone in the clearing with them. “Where’s V?”

“Hell if I know.” Nero snaps. “He ditched me. One moment he’s here saying how ‘oh Dante’s a sledgehammer’.” Nero lowers his voice into a kind of sultry mimic of the summoner’s voice and Dante snorts at it. “And then the next second he fucking ninja’d me. I have no idea where he is right now because he fucking ditched me.”

“I’m right here.” V’s smooth voice states calmly from the nearby mausoleum that he’s resting against, drawing both of the devil hunter’s attention back to him. The book is open in his hands yet again as he leans back against the cracked cement and looking to the world like he’s been there a while just waiting for them to notice him. It’s an impressive trick mostly because Dante’s not actually sure how long he _has_ been there.

“Where did you go?” Nero questions. He sounds pretty calm, the heightened emotions he was experiencing during the fight dying down. He’s learned a lot over the last few years and Dante’s actually rather proud of him. There was once a time when having his emotions run that high and that hot would have sent the younger devil hunter into a kind of tantrum. All reactionary and no thought behind it. It’s good to see those days behind him.

“I went to prevent the Qliphoth ritual.” V replies, closing the book and looking at Nero.

“You could have just told me.” Nero says and V does a graceful shrug.

“There was little time, and we each had our roles to play.”

“And who gets to determine who plays what role V?” Nero challenges him a little. “You?” V just pushes off the mausoleum wall and taps his cane on the ground before taking a few steps forward.

“What matters is that we succeeded.” V tells him instead of answering the question posed, which in and of itself is an answer as far as Dante is concerned. However, V is the client quote unquote, so for now Dante sees no harm in following his lead. He doesn’t like that the ‘real issue’ happened without eyes present that he trusts, but it’s in the past now. All they can do now is just make sure that V doesn’t pull this over on them again next time.

“Whatever you say.” Dante says. “So, I think it’s time for pizza. Know any good joints in the area?”

“I do not.” V says with a shake of his head.

“How can you know all the shortcuts to get to the local cemetery, but you don’t know where your nearest pizza joint is?” Dante asks him. “V…your social life and your priorities are starting to concern me.”

“I don’t eat pizza.” V says with a small, one shouldered shrug. “So there was no reason to know where such locations are.” There’s a moment of complete silence after that revelation.

“Wait. Hold up.” Dante says, freezing in place. “For a second I thought you said you don’t eat pizza?” V arches an eyebrow at him before he slowly shakes his head no and Dante has to brace himself on the nearest tombstone because he needs to try and process or deal with that information. He fails naturally because who the hell doesn’t eat pizza? “How can you not eat pizza? It’s practically its own food group. Pizza is the food of the gods.”

“A soggy piece of bread covered in tomato paste and processed cheese is not what one would rationally consider ambrosia.” V retorts and Nero’s eyebrows raise and the kid looks like he’s fighting back an amused smile as he looks back and forth between Dante and V like he’s watching a particularly interesting tennis match.

“Hey watch it.” Dante tells V with a shake of his finger in the other man’s direction. “That’s my religion you’re insulting. Pizza is life. _Everyone_ likes pizza. The world would probably figure out world peace if everyone just ate pizza all the time.”

“Agreed.” V says with a small nod and Dante looks at him distrustfully.

“You agree?”

“Yes.” V replies. “That probably _would_ cause world peace. Considering the sheer number of heart attacks and clogged arteries that such a diet would undoubtedly cause. Humanity would be peaceful because most of it would be dead.” Nero snorts at that and Dante shakes his head.

“Nope.” Dante says, and he refuses to stand here and listen to this blasphemy. “Oh hell no. This isn’t happening. We’re going to go get pizza right now. We’re going to go get pizza and you’re going to eat it and realize what a sad, miserable life you’ve been living up until now.”

“I sincerely doubt that’ll be the end result of such an event.” V replies to that.

“There is no other reasonable or rational outcome.” Dante argues back. “Come on.” V doesn’t say anything but he does follow behind Dante obediently regardless.

“’A soggy piece of bread’.” Dante mutters quietly to himself, disbelief in his tone as he mimics V’s earlier description. “ _You’re_ a soggy piece of bread.”

“What was that?” V asks and Dante just gives him an innocent and sunny grin.

“Nothing dear.” He says and Nero chuckles while V sighs but says nothing.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> V's snippet in this chapter comes from 'The Garden of Love' by Blake


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally here! Dante finally gets his pizza!

Of course, little does V know – there’s an extra special power that Dante has and it isn’t his killer good looks or his perfectly timed insults. He can hone in on a pizza place from miles away and that dousing ability serves him faithfully as he marches them into a nearby pizza establishment.

V looks around the moment they enter, taking in the floor length red- checkered plastic tablecloths and the poorly lit dining area like he’s in visible pain. Dante can’t help the smirk on his own face as he sees V take in the loud old-fashioned arcade games playing their obnoxious music on repeat in the back and the giant statue of what looks to be a supremely overweight variation of Mario in a chef’s outfit holding a pizza while a word plate hanging over its head says ‘Mamma Mia!’

Dante grins and claps his arm around V’s shoulder, tugging the man to him slightly. “Come on, I’ll make sure we get the best table in the house.”

“Is there such a thing?” V mutters softly as Dante practically drags him to the counter before he makes a giant production of pretending like he’s made a reservation with the bored looking man behind the cashier stand and then pretends to be ‘directed’ towards a table in the corner. He lets go of V only to rush over and pull out one of the chairs that lets out a horrible squeak against the old linoleum, and he motions for V to take a seat with a grand sort of magnanimity.

V looks like he’s going to say something, his fingers clearly tightening against the silver cane he’s leaning against before he seems to come to a determination that it’s just best to play along with Dante than cause a scene about it. He lets out a soft sigh as he comes over, taking the seat that Dante is offering and Nero looks like he’s not even trying to fight the amused look on his own face as he watches the raven-haired summoner get pushed in like they’re at some sort of fancy restaurant.

Dante spins his own chair around and rests his arms over the back when he sits down and settles in for the waiter to come over. “So V.” Dante says, leaning forward, the smile dropping from his face and a kind of seriousness taking over. “How about you tell us what happened back at the cemetery? And how about you be upfront for once?”

“We stopped Urizen from succeeding in his plans.” V replies, taking in his mood shift instantly.

“And how did that go?”

“Better than expected, all things considered.” V admits, but there’s something there. Something hidden that Dante sees for the barest of seconds. It’s clear that he’s not the only one because Nero arches an eyebrow and joins in on the conversation.

“What does that mean?” Nero asks and V looks at the two of them, clearly considering how much he’s going to share with them.

“…Urizen was present.” He admits after a moment. “He has changed his plans slightly, but not enough that our current trajectory won’t still put us in his path.”

“Urizen was there?” Nero asks. His hand goes up to his missing arm as if in subconscious thought.

“Yes. He was.” V nods.

“Wait, you said he’s changed his plans.” Dante asks. “How?”

“He is looking for workarounds to a problem, and it appears that he has found one.” V says.

“What problem?” Dante presses and V looks momentarily conflicted.

“Certain items in his possession are not…complete.” He says as carefully as he possibly can and Dante knows what he’s not saying even if V doesn’t know he does. The Yamato. So he’s inching around the truth, but there’s a kernel of it that Dante feels he can trust. “I incorrectly assumed that it would be a bigger problem for him then it ended up being.”

“Well you know what they say about what happens when you ‘assume’?” Dante says with a grin. “You make an ass out of you and me.” It’s hilarious to see the ‘really Dante?’ look that V shoots him at that. “Okay, cool. So what do we do?”

“For the most part, we continue as we have been.” V says. “As I said, he’s found a workaround for a problem on his side, but our intention was never to deal with that part of the ritual.”

“You still haven’t explained this ritual. So this guy brings a tree over, then what?”

“Bringing the tree over is a lot more complicated than you realize.” V says. “It requires a lot of aid.”

“How did you even know that he wanted to plant this tree?” Nero asks and Dante arches an eyebrow in challenge to V when the other man looks between them.

“Rumor mostly.” V says after a pause. “I’ve interacted with quite a few of Urizen’s more…enthusiastic followers.” Dante thinks of all those dead demons back when the Yamato was first stolen, back when he knew that they were chasing someone before he knew who it was. So another possible truth, hidden still, but possible. “A few of them mentioned the same thing, that he had brought a seedling of a Qliphoth over from the demon world and would use it to become the new king.” V shrugs slightly. “After that it was only a matter of following through with the thought process. If he’d truly done so, there were certain things that he would have to do in order to use it. I came to you to prevent that, and it seems that those demons were correct. He is indeed attempting to prepare the human world for a Qliphoth seedling.”

“But you weren’t sure?”

“I knew that regardless of anything, Urizen was a threat.” V replies firmly. “So does it truly matter what brought me to you with knowledge like that?”

“Huh. I guess not.” Dante says with a shrug. “Although if Urizen _was_ there. Maybe you shouldn’t have run off.”

“As I said to Griffon when he expressed a similar sentiment, hindsight is always 20/20.” V says and they’re interrupted by the arrival of their waitress. She puts down large plastic cups of water before them and taps her pen against her notepad. Dante doesn’t miss the look she gives them all for a moment, like she doesn’t know which one she wants to drag out back during her break and have her wicked way with them. She’s got good taste, maybe biting off a little bit more than she can chew, but good taste nonetheless.

“What will it be?” She asks.

“Ham and garlic potatoes.” Dante says and she gives him a look.

“Yeah, we don’t have garlic potatoes.”

“Damn.” Dante says with a small groan. “Okay then, supreme with extra cheese, hold the olives.” She nods and writes it down. “Oh, and a cheese pizza for the princess.” V gives him a slightly annoyed look at the nickname and Dante just grins and gives him a wink.

“I’ll take a beer.” Nero says and she nods, writing it all down before taking off. “So, you don’t like pizza.” Nero says to V as he leans back in his own chair, clearly making the choice to allow them to move off the subject of Urizen for now. “What do you like to eat then? Tell us something about you. Like what’s your favorite food?”

“I’m not sure I have one.” V admits after a brief pause, like for some reason that question is more complicated to answer than it should be. Or like he’s never had it posed to him. Who knows, maybe he hasn’t. He doesn’t act like he’s used to talking to a lot of people and he goes out of his way to keep to himself despite all the attention thrown his way. Dante wonders if he has any friends outside of his demonic familiars.

The thought is a depressing one, all things considered when something tells Dante that he doubts he does.

“There has to be _something_.” Nero presses. “Come on. All I’ve heard you talk about is poetry and Urizen. Let’s try a new topic for once.” V takes a moment to consider the question.

“I seem to recall being rather fond of salmon and sorrel.” He says.

“Salmon and sorrel? What’s that?” Nero asks.

“It’s a French dish.” V explains. “Originally attributed to the Troisgros brothers. It’s a popular dish.”

“Never heard of it.” Nero says with a shrug. “Maybe someday I’ll have to try it.”

“I hope you like it if you do.” V says with a small incline of his head and this marks the most the man has ever spoken in their presence to date. Granted they haven’t known him long, has it really only been two days? It feels like it’s been so much longer than that. It’s nice to finally get him talking, not that listening to him recite poetry is subpar in any way.

“So you ever been to France?” Dante asks and there’s another pause.

“A time or two.”

“Cool. Did you like it?”

“I wasn’t there for recreation.” V says. “I don’t actually believe I saw much of it.”

“What were you there for?” Nero asks and V taps his fingers against the tabletop.

“Research.” He replies eventually. “I was looking up some…family history.”

“Is your family from France?” Nero looks V up and down. “Cuz you don’t look like what I figured a French guy would look like.” V gives him an amused look.

“Do I not?”

“Nah.” Nero huffs with a shake of his head. “I think you’re playing with us.” V gets a small, amused smile before he starts saying something in French. Dante’s never learned the language but he recognizes the sound of it instantly. He almost wishes that he didn’t know what those words sounded like spilling out from V’s lips in that voice of his. It’s clear by the tight smile on Nero’s face and how he takes a drink of his water that he feels a similar way. V does a little chuckle at the end of whatever it is he’s just said and Dante’s a little curious about whatever the translation of it was.

Actually, lets be honest. It was probably a poem.

“Although I must admit that you’re not incorrect.” V says, flipping back to English. “I am not French, nor is my family. I was there to acquire a collection of books and materials that I thought might harken back to my family.”

“Did they?” Nero asks and V shakes his head.

“No, they did not. But they were not without their own use, so not a wasted trip in the end.”

“What were they?” Dante asks and V shrugs.

“Historic records.” V says. “Some allowed for new…skillsets to be learned and expanded upon.”

“Skillsets? Like your little pets?”

“They’re not my pets.” V seems unable to stop himself from correcting Dante and Dante arches an eyebrow as he holds up his hands in appeasement.

“Sorry.” He says and V nods once.

“Talking about that.” Nero says, leaning forward and motioning at V. “Your tats, what’s up with them? Cuz I’ve never felt anything like them.”

“They’re…” V pauses. “You’ve seen Griffon. It’s the…connection I suppose, that I have with the three of them.”

“Three?” Dante asks. “I’ve only seen two.”

“I don’t summon Nightmare often.” V replies. “He is very difficult to maintain in his full form, and even more difficult to direct at times. Although I do not doubt that you’ll see him at some point.”

“So your tats are what, contracts?” Nero asks and V looks down, glancing at the back of his own arms and hands.

“No. They’re not contracts. I’m not holding onto them in any way. In theory they are free to leave at any time.” V says. “So they’re more of a…promise I guess.”

“What kind of promise?” Dante asks and V doesn’t glance up from the markings, like they’re just as fascinating in that moment to him as they are to the other two.

“That I’ll never be alone.” He says softly, almost too softly. He seems to snap out of whatever mood has taken him and he quickly changes the conversation, asking Nero about Kyrie and about how the two of them met in an attempt to cover up saying more than he clearly meant to.

Those words strike a chord inside of Dante. Something that makes Dante’s heart go out a little to the green-eyed poet, after all, Dante knows a thing or two about being left in a big bad world alone, and he knows what it can do to a person. How it can take them and twist them into something that their own brother – their own flesh and blood - can barely recognize in the aftermath. The coldness that it can put in another’s eyes that Dante never knew how to help, that he never knew what the other needed or what Dante needed to say in order to make him realize that the only one choosing to continue being alone was Vergil himself.

Dante’s door was always open. Vergil just never seemed to realize that he could just walk in.

He never seemed to realize that he could stay. That Dante _wanted_ him to stay.

So, it’s safe to say that feeling like that is not a fate Dante would wish on anyone. 

The food comes eventually and Dante slides a piece of cheese pizza onto the paper plate in front of V. V spins it a few times and Dante finds himself chuckling.

“It’s not going to bite you.” He says to the other man and V slowly reaches out with those long fingers and seems to toy with the idea of picking it up before he reaches over and takes a napkin from the container and starts to blot up the grease and oil off the top of it. Both Nero and Dante make similar cries of distress at his actions. “Hey! You’re getting rid of the best part!”

“My heart will thank me for it.” V replies as he continues to almost daintily blot it all up.

“Your taste buds won’t.” Nero snorts, reaching out and grabbing a slice of the loaded pizza and eating it like a real person should, with grease dripping everywhere and half of the cheese trying to slide off with the first bite. V scrunches up his nose in a rather hilariously adorable displeased look as he watches the two devil hunters practically inhale the ‘soggy tomato paste covered’ goodness. “It’s just pizza V. It’s not going to kill you. Who knows, you might even like it.” Nero laughs lightly and V sighs before he slowly picks it up, ignoring how intensely both men are watching him as he brings it to his mouth and takes one of the smallest, unsure bites that Dante thinks he’s ever seen a grown ass adult take of something before in his life.

“Well?” Dante asks and V puts it back down, munching yet looking slightly displeased. He takes a moment to swallow in a show of refined manners that neither of the other two are doing before he answers.

“Sorry to disappoint.” He says and Dante shrugs.

“Eh, no disappointment. This is just option one in the _long list_ of pizza options that I’m going to open your eyes to.”

“What?” V asks, and he looks slightly concerned by the offer.

“What? Pizza’s an art V, and there are so many different kinds. Deep dish, Chicago, New York style.” Nero makes a pleased sound at that one and Dante gives him a thumbs up. “This is just the first step in your pizza conversion.” V seems to stare at the pizza on his plate for a few moments before he speaks again.

“You intend to wear me down, don’t you?”

“Yup.” Dante grins. “Works every time.” V picks at the pizza more than he eats it, although it’s clear that he’s hungry because he keeps coming back to the slice on his plate. There’s a moment where Dante is talking to Nero and he sees V out of the corner of his eyes look down like he’s seeing something on the floor before he sighs and reaches out for another slice of pizza – before sliding it under the table. Dante frowns as he tugs up on the tablecloth and looks under the table at that cat who is clearly already begging for food again by the way it puts its head on V’s lap. “More like a dog than a cat. At least we know they have good taste.” Dante says, dropping the tablecloth and a small smile tilts up the edges of V's lips.

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never had either before, and they like eating demons. Not the biggest praise for your beloved pizza.” He says, already giving in and reaching out to grab the next slice to feed the hungry demon pestering him.

“Hey Shakespeare, what’s up with the favorites playing? Share the goods.” Dante hears the bird mutter quietly from V’s other side and V just sighs, shaking his head and offering a slice that way as well.

“Enough now, that’s the last one.” V tells them gently, and Dante can tell that he pets the top of the cat’s head before the tattoos on his arms fill out again. That’s so weird to see, but he figures it’s a good indicator if either one is currently active in the area. He wonders what this ‘Nightmare’ creature looks like. What form does it take? V says it’s the hardest to control and it makes Dante curious.

 ** _‘DDDAAAANNNNTTTTEEEEE_ …’** A powerful demonic presence reaches out to him and Dante barely manages to keep himself from reacting and alerting the other two at the table.

“Well, I gotta go take a leak.” He says, standing up and heading off towards the bathroom.

Well this was going to be interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next update will be around Sunday or Monday. Just a heads up. No particular reason, just wanting to get some of these chapters out.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it looks like Sunday it is! Here's the next chapter for you all!   
> Let me just start it out by saying...I have no clue what's going on in this story anymore. The characters have taken it and they've run away with it and they're holding it hostage.   
> So enjoy!

Dante gets up and leaves rather abruptly, not that it’s an uncommon action for the older devil hunter and Nero glances over at the arcade games that are loudly playing their obnoxious music on repeat. It’s clear that V’s done eating although he looks like he could use a few more bites but Nero’s not going to say anything. If the guy doesn’t want to eat it, he’s not going to make him.

“Wanna go play a game?” Nero asks him. “Looks like they’ve got a few choices, any of them your speed?” V glances up towards the games.

“I’ve never played one.” He says with that calm cadence of his and Nero thinks he might stare at the other man with the same look of disbelieving horror that Dante had back in the cemetery when V said he didn’t like pizza.

“You don’t like pizza and you’ve never played an arcade game?” Nero asks and his tone is incredulous. “What did you _do_ growing up?”

“I read.” V says and there’s a small amount of amusement in that statement.

“That’s it? You read?”

“Mostly.” V nods. “When I had the time to spare. I studied a lot.” He tilts his head slightly. “And practiced.”  

“That sounds fucking boring V. Come on, be honest. You had to have done _something_ other than just reading and studying. I mean, what did you do to relax?”

“I played instruments?” V says in response to that. “Or if you’re determined on a game thought process, I played chess and go when I could, although it was rather difficult to find an acceptable partner to do so with.”

“Ugh, that sounds horrible.” Nero groans. “Okay then, come on.” He kicks back his chair and stands up. “I’ve got some change.” V looks up at him unsure and he just inclines towards the games with his head. “Come on, I’ll teach you.” V takes a moment before he finally stands and follows Nero over to the games. Nero glances at all of them. “Okay, lets start with a classic. Pac-Man.” He leads V over to it. “It’s easy as hell. You just move these to move along the maze-” He points to the controls. “and you want to eat all the dots and the fruit but don’t get caught by the ghosts.”

“Seems repetitive and unmotivating.” V says as Nero digs in his pocket and puts in a few coins.

“That’s just cuz you haven’t played it yet.” The game starts up and Nero guides V into position and motions for him to take over the controls while Nero stands beside him. “Okay, so you gotta move. Try and get that one.” It only takes a few times of playing that game before Nero decides to shift him off to another. “Ah ha! Mortal Kombat. This was my childhood right here.”

“That’s not how you spell that word.” V points out, looking at the letters on the top of the machine.

“Shh.” Nero says. “Accept it and pick your player.” Nero puts in the coins and immediately selects and waits for V to do the same. “What’s the hold up?” Nero asks him after a few moments and V’s eyes just track all of the options available to him on the screen.

“I don’t know which to go with.”

“You could try Sub-Zero.” Nero points to the character model. “I used to play him a lot when I was younger.” V doesn’t say anything to that, he just moves the controls and selects the mentioned avatar. “Alright, so I’ll go easy on you, but there’s really no finesse to this. Mash every button as fast and as hard as you can. Sometimes certain button combinations do special attacks, but really it’s not about that. It’s about just smashing the hit and kick buttons until one of you is superior and the other is dead.”

“This seems strangely representative of life.” V says with a tiny huff and Nero smirks at him. It’s clear that V doesn’t fully understand the amount of smashing the buttons that the game requires of him and a couple of times Nero pokes at him and reaches over and helps him hit a few buttons only to have his hand swatted at for his troubles. “This seems slightly pointless.” V says after finally winning and Nero shrugs.

“Not everything’s about something bigger. Sometimes it’s just about the feeling you get out of doing it.” Nero replies and V gives him a strange look like he’s trying to figure something out about Nero. “Hey V.” Nero says when they prepare to start the next round.

“Yes?”

“…you’re not alone.” Nero says and he makes sure not to look over at the other man, from what he can see in his peripheral V doesn’t look at him either. The words from earlier have been weighing down on him a little and he feels that maybe – just maybe – V thinks that he’s still on his own in all of this. Maybe V doesn’t fully understand how fast someone can be accepted into their odd little family. Heck, Dante practically adopted him not even five minutes after meeting him, apparently Trish was an enemy agent before Dante threw in his lot with her and brought her back with him after knowing her for less than a day. The stories Lady and Dante tell him about their meeting has her shooting him in the head and then being best friends for life an hour later. Patty was an old client that he’s pretty much been the odd uncle to ever since. Two days? That’s practically a lifetime when it comes to things like this. Maybe he doesn’t know that he’s basically been adopted and that he doesn’t need to carry whatever doomsday fears he has in his head all by himself. Maybe that answers the question of why he went off on his own, because he thinks that he has to, that Dante or Nero won’t actually have his back if push comes to shove.  “You’re one of us…if you want to be…and you’re not alone. We’re all a collection of freaks here.”

“You just threatened me not even two hours ago.” V points out. “That’s quite the change of tune.”

“Not really.” Nero says with a shrug. “Honestly, you fuck with Dante I’ll fuck you up. That’s not a threat that’s just making sure we’re all on the same page…but I’ve got your back till that day if it ever comes around, Dante does too. You’re part of the team.” Nero rolls his shoulder. “Look, you’re not goin up against this guy alone is all I’m saying. You don’t have to feel like you are.” The game finishes its little countdown and the ‘FIGHT!’ shows across the screen. “Just wanted to you know that before I kick your ass.” Nero says as he starts hitting the buttons and it only takes V a few moments before he starts playing again too.

\----------

Dante steps through the back and heads outside to the alley. He can tell that whatever presence has reached out to him is following him and he puts his hands in his pockets as he paces a little bit away from the door to the building. He kicks a can near some trashcans and he turns and is immediately in the space of the demon in the span between seconds with Ivory already under its chin and pushing it back against the wall.

It’s the pug faced man from before. He knew that he’d be seeing him again.

“You’re the one from the graveyard.” Dante says before slowly taking the safety off with a deliberate click. “Any reason why you’re following me? Cuz I gotta say, that’s pretty stupid. Even for one of you.”

“I come with an olive branch, son of Sparda.” The demon hisses out quickly and Dante snorts.

“Do you now? Funny, I don’t see one.” He makes a point of looking at the demon’s hands. “You wouldn’t be lying to me now, would you?”

“N-n-no!”

“Why are you here? Who sent you?”

“King Mundus.” The name that slips off of it’s tongue almost has Dante pulling the trigger out of a reflex response.

“Mundus?” He asks and there’s a deep, dark rage that rises up in him that he barely manages to keep contained for now. “So that fuck is up and about again? Then I’m doubting your ‘olive branch’ even more now.”

“It’s true! It’s true!” It sputters and Dante forces himself to take a deep breath.

“Okay, let’s say I believe you. I don’t, but let’s say I do. What does that fuck want?”

“Peace.”

“Oh, I doubt that.” Dante replies with a sharp grin. “I doubt that _very_ _much_. And even if he did, who says I do?”

“He wants to make an arrangement with you.” It says quickly. “Mutually beneficial.” Dante can’t help the disbelieving snort he does at that.

“Oh yeah sure. That sounds great. I’d love to hear it. I mean, it’s not like he killed my mom and tortured my brother and tried to kill me, and swore an unending hate campaign against any of the old man’s bloodline; but sure, ‘mutually beneficial.’ This I’ve got to hear.” It’s clear that his sarcasm is wasted on this demon because it immediately starts talking, relaxing slightly and not reading any of the signs that Dante is putting up in neon lights for it.

“He will take the Usurper back to the Underworld. Close off the gates and bother this world no more for a thousand years.” _What the fuck?_

“…Okay…I’ll admit, I’m curious. Why?” Dante asks with a tilt of his head.

“The Usurper challenges his reign.”

“Naturally.”

“He will handle it for you.” It says. “Stop the Qliphoth from being created. Stop all aggressions towards you.”

“For a thousand years?” Dante repeats and it nods quickly.

“Yes.”

“I see. Well no offense, but that sounds like shit he could do without ‘olive branching’ me. Where’s the part where _I_ come in?” Dante asks. “Let me guess, he wants me to kick this guys ass for him? Get him nice and weak before he comes in to finish the job?” There’s that dark undertone coming forth again, not that Dante’s too surprised with the memories it threatens to shake loose. “I mean, I know how he likes to do that, but how about you spell it out real simple for me. What _exactly_ does Mundus want from me?”

“The human traveling with you. Give him to him.”

“V?” Dante asks, actually momentarily taken aback with surprise and confusion. “What would Mundus want or need with V?”

“I don’t know.” It says quickly, it must see something that registers as a threat to its life finally. “I don’t know.” Dante figures it probably doesn’t. He doubts that Mundus would do something so foolish as sending someone who knows anything about his plans or reasonings to Dante. “But give him the human and he will stop the Usurper. He will leave this world alone. That’s what you want yes? It is a good deal.”

“Too good.” Dante says with a nod. “There’s just a teeny tiny problem with it.” Dante pushes the gun in tighter and he can feel it swallow around the pressure. “It completely ignores the fact that I _hate_ that bastard’s guts and I will willingly go out of my way just to piss him off. Hell, I might even call this Urizen up and offer to help him kick Mundus’s ass for free.” Dante steps forward and lets some of his devil trigger power seep out and he sees its eyes bug in terror. “You can go back to Mundus and tell him that he can kiss my ass. V is under _my_ protection and I’m not handing him over for _anything_. Got all that?” He asks and it nods so fast. “Good.” He takes a step back and motions up the alleyway with the barrel. “Now run along and pass that message on before I decide to send you back in pieces. I’m sure it’ll get my response back all the same.”

The demon, in a show of having at least one single working brain cell or just a barely developing sense of self-preservation, takes off in an almost skid as it flees down the alley and out of view.

 _Shit_. Dante thinks to himself once it’s gone and he runs a hand through his hair in a mix of agitation and worry. Mundus is back. He’d have hoped that the seal would have lasted longer, but with Vergil or Urizen or whoever messing about with trying to combine the demon and the human worlds to grow a fucking tree that harkens back to Mundus’s own history Dante figures he shouldn’t actually be that surprised to learn the demon king has a vested interest in stopping it.

Although, leave it to Vergil to rub it in Mundus’s face that he’s coming for him. If it’s true what V said and Mundus took over because of the fruit of the Qliphoth, then Vergil planning to grow one is just an obvious spit in the face of the demon king. He’s making it clear that he’s coming, and that he’s going to do it the same way Mundus chose to step on the previous king before him. How ironically cruel. How like Vergil.

Mundus must actually be worried if he’s scraping the bottom of his options by reaching out to Dante of all people.

But V? What does V have to do with any of this? Mundus doesn’t do anything unless it benefits him, and he’s quick to throw away anything that isn’t useful to him. What use would a human summoner have for him? Is it the demons? They’re familiar that’s for certain. Something that’s bugged Dante a little bit since the first time he saw them. Griffon most of all, in both name and form, and it’s telling that the one he hasn’t seen yet is named Nightmare. All of them subtle hints back to Mundus’s island. Did V take them from Mundus? Did he run off with them like he did the piece of Yamato? Mundus is a fickle fuck, of that Dante knows for certain, and he doesn’t like having his toys taken. No matter how much he doesn’t care about them.

Did V piss him off somehow? And if he did, what the hell did he do that Mundus would be willing to make such a deal with Dante for him? Or does V know something that he shouldn’t know? Or something that’ll help Mundus against Urizen somehow? Or is it vise versa? Does V know something about _Mundus_?  

More questions and no answers. That’s not a good place to be when the fate of the world is at stake.

Dante takes a deep breath and heads back inside where he left the other two. They’re not at the table where he left them but he catches a glimpse of them over by the arcade games. Nero is laughing and turning away from the screen.

“Look, I’m not even looking V. Not even looking.” He says, although he clearly keeps sneaking peeks at what’s happening on the screen and V shakes his head as he hits the buttons but there’s a telltale smirk on his face which shows that he knows Nero is just playing with him and he’s allowing it. Dante crosses his arms and leans against the wall to watch them. They’re getting along better, V looks like he’s relaxing slightly around them and that won’t be true if Dante confronts him about the Mundus angle.

He’ll have to keep it to himself for now. At least until he finds out more information.

_What aren’t you telling us V? ‘Unwilling third party’ you said once. What are you mixed up in? What’s the real story here? And how do I get you to trust me enough to share it with me?_

“I am the champion!” Nero says with a laugh and pumping his fist in the air once the game plays out and he finally looks at Dante. “What do you say old man? Wanna challenge the king?” Dante chuckles and holds his hands up in surrender.

“Nah, I know my limits.”

“Since when?” Nero snorts and Dante just smiles.

“So, V.” Dante says, glancing at the other man. “What now? Head off to the next ritual location? Get a hotel room? Head back to Devil May Cry and regroup? What’s our next step?”

“We’ll have some time to rest and prepare.” V says, clearly thinking about it. “Urizen will have to wait if he wishes to do another ritual like the one we interrupted.” He bites his bottom lip slightly in thought. “I know somewhere we can go in the meantime. It’s not too far, but it’s closer and a little more centrally located than going all the way back to Devil May Cry.”

“Yeah? Where’s that?”

“…my place.” V says after a moment and both Dante and Nero have identical looks of surprise.

“Your place?” Nero asks. “You have a place? I mean…” Nero looks V up and down. “I mean, you’re not even wearing a full shirt, I just figured you lived out of a van or something.”

“I think you’re projecting.” Dante pokes lightly and Nero flips him off as V tilts his head slightly.

“I have somewhere we can use…Let’s leave it at that.” V, ever mysterious, ends the conversation on that note.

“Well I’m not going to argue. I could use a place to crash. Need my beauty sleep.” Dante says and Nero snorts.

“You’d need a beauty coma dumbass.” He says and Dante laughs.

“Hey, don’t hate on the goods Nero. We both know you can’t keep your hands off all of this.” He does a silly little shimmy against the wall as he motions to all of himself and Nero looks like he chokes on the laugh that he barely smothers.

“With moves like that, I really wonder how you’ve ever managed to get laid.” Nero says and Dante grins.

“Must be my charm.”

“Nah, that’s not it.”

“I’ve got great abs?”

“Sounds much more likely.” Nero replies as they head over to the table and toss down some cash before heading outside.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup. Mundus is back.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so notes for this chapter:  
> There's some references to Vergil's belief's that Eva abandoned him as per DMC5, there's also some history and world building in this AU as well as hints of Vergil's untreated PTSD from the house attack. 
> 
> Also, there's some existential questioning happening up in this chapter. The start of V going his own separate way from Vergil. But as I said before - AU. I know that technically V is Vergil, but V is also V and he starts having to deal with this problem in this chapter.
> 
> If anything is different than expressed in the games/manga/anime please just run with it and consider it world building for this au universe. Thanks!

The cab ride is a welcome shift out of the cold night air and off of his feet and it allows for V to take a moment and to take stock.

_“This is your victory, brother mine. Enjoy it.” “We are nothing else.”_

Urizen’s words have been echoing around in his head since their run across each other. There has to be a logic game afoot here. Why let him go? Why not kill V when he had the chance? Even if Urizen came to the correct conclusion that V had brought Dante into their little drama, it was obvious that he was not present in the room and would not have been a deterring factor in any attempts to reclaim the Yamato shard from his other half. Not just that, in showing up at the cemetery, in catching Urizen mid-ritual and destroying it V had shown that he was a problem that must be dealt with. He’d shown that not only was he able to work out at least a part of Urizen’s plan, he’d been able to throw it into disarray, pushing Urizen’s timetable back yet again just as he did when he fled with the sword shard. He’d proven that he wasn’t just some throwaway piece on the chessboard so why didn’t Urizen act?

_“This is your victory.”_

Funny, it didn’t feel like a victory. It felt like a handout. It felt like a patronizingly mocking pat on the head for a child that V did not appreciate one bit.

What game was Urizen playing at? In that moment he’d had all the power and he’d opted to do… _nothing_. V knows that he would have been practically helpless against the full demon half of Vergil if the other had lashed out at him, of that he’s not deluding himself. There’s a reason he sought out Dante after all, but none of this was making sense. Even if Urizen decided that the Yamato was no longer a necessary tool in his grand plan, the sheer fact that there was someone running around out there with the knowledge and the skillsets to disrupt him in his plans should have caused him to lash out and stop V.

But he hadn’t. V had been right there, barely twenty feet away. Why didn’t Urizen do anything? Why did he let him go?

_“Brother mine…we are nothing else.”_

What did that mean? ‘Brother’ was certainly not the term that V would have chosen to describe what they were to each other if pressed originally. Opposite sides of a coin perhaps, but not brothers. ‘Brother’ seemed almost too personal of a title to attribute to V and it reeked of sentimentality. Why would Urizen chose that word? That definition? V would have called them the two sides of Vergil, the human and the demon, forever at odds with one another – yet that’s apparently not how Urizen would chose to define them.

Why didn’t he attack? Why didn’t he do _anything_? The question is driving him mad.

“Hey.” Dante asks, nudging his shoulder and drawing his attention back to him. “Everything okay there? You look like you’re a thousand miles away.”

“I am fine.” V tries to assure him and Dante doesn’t look sold. “Just going over the day.”

“Wanna talk about it?” Dante asks and V glances tellingly at the cab driver. Dante shrugs like he couldn’t mind in the slightest that the man might think he picked up a bunch of lunatics, but V just shakes his head and looks back out the window. In the more immediate moments, V does wonder how Nero and Dante will react when they pull up to their final destination. It’s clear that they’re beyond curious at the prospect of being invited to V’s ‘home’ (was it ever a home? No, no Vergil didn’t do ‘homes’ he did ‘houses’ or ‘current locations’, but never home. Home required family, and his was not there) and V wonders what’s going through their minds right now. What do they imagine they’ll be taken to? What do they imagine they’ll find there? Do they think it’ll unlock some of the mysteries of V for them? It won’t.

Truth be told, he’d been concerned that he might not be able to gain access to the penthouse and the accounts back when he was first formed and was rushing about trying to stay alive during onslaught after onslaught of demons. He’d had more than enough trouble just trying to acquire basic clothing that he’d had Griffon steal least he be running up and down the streets from fight to fight naked all day long. When he’d finally gotten himself to a safe-ish location to take stock and make a few calls before tracking down Morrison he’d thought that his luck wouldn’t have come in for him, he’d had a pretty rotten first few hours of existence after all.

Thankfully, he’d been wrong and that hadn’t been the case. With the right calls to the right places and with the right passwords, account numbers and security questions – all of Vergil’s unused funds and investments had been opened up to V for his own personal use. It had been the result of a lot of planning and foresight on Vergil’s part that V had been inordinately grateful for. Long ago, before the Temen-Ni-Gru, Vergil had considered the very real possibility that his visit to the Underworld could take some time and have him away from the human world – he’d had no idea _how long_ – and so he’d meticulously set up his accounts to be revolving and automated and maintained in his absence. It seemed all of that planning on his part had truly paid off, even if in theory he was not the one benefitting from it right now.

That was one of the major differences between Vergil and Dante in how they dealt with the world after the death of Eva. Dante had gone from job to job, paycheck to paycheck if he even got paid for his efforts while Vergil had taken his time to invest and amass wealth and status and power. After all, if you’re good at something never do it for free, and if you’re _very good_ at something, never do it for cheap. Dante might have been able to ghost through the world in a lackadaisical fashion, throwing away his name and his family ties for a time, but Vergil had never been able to do so.

V wonders a little if that harkens back to Eva’s choice. The moment when the twin’s mother must have guessed that she could only save one son, choosing Dante and leaving Vergil behind to burn.

It was the day that had changed Vergil forever, followed only by the day that Mundus succeeded in rewriting him into a pathetic mockery of who he had once been. Back then, Vergil’s eyes had been opened as he’d been forced to endure and understand the true depravity of the world and of the demons that walked amongst it. V knows that Vergil used to look back on those memories in disgust, on the remembrance of being so scared and _weak_. He hadn’t just been terrified of the demons pouring into the manor, tearing at him and mocking him and tormenting him…no, he’d been also terrified of _himself_. Dante and Vergil had always been different, of this they knew but Dante’s first true trigger didn’t occur until Vergil ripped it from him in preparation of when Dante would be truly alone – Vergil’s however had happened that day. When it had happened, he’d been left with no understanding of what had just occurred and a mother who had chosen to shield and protect his younger brother and just abandon him to whatever fate the demons had carved out for him.

Vergil had sworn to never be put in that position again. To never again be so scared and so _powerless_. If only he’d known what fate he had to look forward to many years later at the hands of the demon king who wanted to unmake anything that led back to Sparda.

He’d succeeded. To a point Mundus had unmade him all too well and it was entirely possible that even if Urizen and V decided that they wanted to come together to reform Vergil that Vergil would never fully recover from what had happened to him down there.

 _If_ Urizen and V decided they wanted to come together again…that new thought lodges itself in his mind and won’t budge.

Did V even _want_ to become Vergil again?

The question is almost as jarring as the vehicle pulling to a stop and V tries to cover it up as he climbs out. He can’t help how he glances back at Nero and Dante to see their reactions in real time as they take in the building in front of them.

“Pretty ritzy.” Dante says with a slow whistle, hooking his thumbs on his belt loops and rocking on his heels slightly. “You sure we’re in the right place?” V doesn’t bother to acknowledge that question as he tugs open the doors and walks over to the front desk. Everything should have been taken care of by now, and Dante and Nero follow him obediently. Granted, it’s clear from the looks they keep shooting each other that they’re waiting for V to laugh and tell them how he’s pulling their legs or something.

“Wait here.” V tells them in the waiting area as he makes his way to the desk. The woman behind it gives him a look like she isn’t sure how to take someone who looks like him and his companions in the main lobby, the smile she gives him seems slightly strained and he wonders if she’s worried that she’s going to have to get security to throw them out. V reaches out and taps his code on the small keypad, putting in his password and he watches her face shift from uncertainty to absolute surprise as the computer gives her the green light. “I requested that some items be delivered. I trust that’s all been taken care of?” V asks and she nods.

‘Yes sir. According to the system they came in earlier and were taken up to the residence. Did you want to see the receipts and forms?”

“No, that’s unnecessary.” V says with a small wave of his hand.

“Will there be anything else you’ll be needing?”

“No, that is all.” V says with a small shift, his fingers flexing on his cane.

“Okay.” She types in a few things and he sees her give him a kind of once over. “Just remember, if you decide that you need _anything else_ , I’m here all night.”

“I’ll bear that in mind.” V tells her with a small incline of his head and he can see her small, almost disappointed frown as he turns and motions for Dante and Nero to follow him onto the elevator.

“Seriously?” Nero asks once the elevator has been called for them and V puts in his code and the doors close. “You live _here_? You need to tell me right now what you do and how you do it.” V doesn’t respond to that, and he figures he probably shouldn’t. He didn’t really do anything, this was all Vergil, V was just benefitting from it.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Dante mutters as the elevator doors open and they get the first view of the penthouse apartment and V steps out, guiding them all into a space that he’s never technically been in before but which was one of Vergil’s favored residences. This was the one he’d stay at whenever he came into town to check in on his foolish brother whether or not Dante ever knew that.

“The guest suite is this way.” He says, guiding them down the hallway to where they’ll sleep tonight. “Unfortunately, you’ll have to share, unless one of you wishes to sleep on the couch.” He pushes open the door to the room before he stands off to the side so that they can see what they’re working with. Dante and Nero look around and Nero ends up being the first one to turn to V with an amused smirk on his lips.

“Yeah, it’ll be hard, but somehow I think we’ll manage.” He jokes and Dante glances at the giant bed and chuckles.

“So hard, but Nero’s right. We’ll endure.” The sarcasm makes V smile a tiny bit and he shakes it off quickly. He turns to Dante.

“Has Trish reported in yet?” He asks and Dante shakes his head.

“Doesn’t work that way.” He says. “But that doesn’t mean anything. She tends to track me down instead of picking up a phone to call.”

“We need to know if she succeeded.”

“She did.”

“That’s an assumption.”

“It’s a fact.” Dante replies with a healthy amount of assurance. “This is _Trish_ we’re talking about.”

“In order to know where we’ll need to be next, I have to know for sure and I need to know what she saw or experienced at the location she went to.” V stresses and Dante waves him off.

“Fine. I’ll call Morrison in the morning if Trish hasn’t stopped by yet and see if he knows anything.” Dante says and V doesn’t bother asking why Dante doesn’t just save himself the trouble and just call Trish directly instead of going through Morrison.

“Very well, I’ll take my leave then.” V tells them. “I’ll see you in the morning, until then feel free to make yourselves at home.” V turns and leaves them. There is something pressing that he needs to do first before there’s any chance of being distracted or of Dante stumbling over it. There’s only _one_ piece of anything that would scream ‘This is Vergil’s apartment’ inside the penthouse and it rests in the office.

A picture.

It’s the only thing that Vergil had gone back to the old house for and had kept out of a small amount of sentimentality that he pretended he didn’t have, and V knows that under no circumstances can Dante or Nero be allowed to see it. There will be no chance of covering any of this up if they do.

He enters the office and walks around the desk, looking at the picture frame on top of it. It’s a picture of the twins before the fire, one that Eva had loved for the easy smiles that Vergil and Dante had been giving each other during it. It’s singed a little around the edges, but the frame covers most of the damage. Dante’s not the only one to keep a picture although V wonders what it says that Vergil has a picture of the two of them while Dante only chose to remember the mother that picked him. Maybe Dante was trying to tell Vergil something. Maybe he was trying to tell him that he wanted nothing more than to forget all about Vergil and write him off just as Eva had.

V rejects the idea the second it tries to take root. He knows that’s not it. Whatever confused and twisted things that there are between Dante and Vergil – intentionally forgetting each other isn’t one of them.

He picks up the picture and goes over to the safe, opening it and putting it inside. It’s only once it’s away that he takes a small breath of relief. There’s nothing else really that should tip Dante off, and with that final assurance he heads off into the master bedroom.

He closes the doors softly behind him and he leans back against the cool wood once he does. There’s a sudden lethargy that rushes through him all the way down to his bones, feeling like it seeps his strength straight from him. It’s like a switch has been flipped and he’s exhausted in a way that he hasn’t really let himself feel since fleeing from the old Sparda mansion.

He didn’t really have the time to feel that though, it’s been a constant rush from one destination to another, from one problem that must be solved to the next, so on and so forth. He’s had to stay on his feet, to keep moving forward because the chasm at the edge of the cliff he's standing on is always hungry and it’s always looking to consume the unwary.

V pushes off the doors and looks around at the room laid out in front of him. There’s no familiarity here, nothing in the items his eyes pass over from the dressers to the bed to the art hanging on the walls. It’s odd in its own way. V had figured that he’d have felt some kind of…something when he stepped into the old apartment. This was Vergil’s last home, or the closest thing that Vergil ever thought of as a ‘home’, and was one of his favored residences.

There’s none of that favor here now though. Or if there is, V doesn’t feel it.

He steps over to the dresser and looks at the items artfully arranged on top of it. He can’t remember if he picked these out or if the woman he paid to decorate the empty spaces did it for him. They look like something Vergil would appreciate, both useful in form and function with subtle artful flourishes, and yet V can’t remember their origin. He slowly reaches out and tugs off the top of one of the cologne bottles resting there.

It’s slightly unsettling to know that while it’s a decent scent, he’s not sure he would have picked it if given the chance right now.

He puts the lid back on and tugs open one of the drawers. He’s not surprised to find the new items he requested already put away next to Vergil’s old things and he stares at the separation between the old and the new. He closes that drawer and repeats it with another and then another. He’s not sure what he’s looking for, but he knows he’s looking for something. The search leads him to the closet where the garment bags that V knows contains Vergil’s tailored wardrobe are hanging right next to V’s new items.

The dichotomy is a sharp, stark line. He feels like it’s telling him something, something he already knows but hasn't really let himself think about yet.

V reaches out for one of the bags, reaching up and tugging down the zipper to look at the dark blue fabric that reveals itself to him. There’s gold brocade etched along it in a simple yet elegant design, a personal favorite when it came to looks that Vergil appreciated. It’s almost a twin to the jacket that he was wearing the day that he fell, to the one he wore when he split himself into Urizen and V.

V’s not sure why he needed to see it, or for what reasons, but whatever answers he’s looking for he doesn’t receive when he looks upon it. What he does get is another moment of feeling something he doesn’t know what to do with.

None of this feels like his. Nothing here does.

That realization makes something itch under his skin. Shouldn’t it feel like his? He is still Vergil…right? Isn’t he? Or is he something new? _Someone_ new and untested? What exactly are the two of them now, Urizen and V? Are they an odd pair left behind in the wreckage of Vergil’s decision, two completely new entities with their own polarized desires born of the original or are they just two halves of a puzzle? Useless and unable to show the completed picture without being pieced together?

“V?” Griffon asks, forming into the space with him and V takes an unsteady breath at the unexpected company and he quickly zips back up the garment protector. He notices that his hands are shaking slightly as he smooths it out. “Everything alright?” Griffon tries again and V gives him a brief nod. Griffon doesn’t look sold on his rather lackluster attempt at reassuring him and V’s starting to feel the exhaustion of all of this weigh down on him. His eyes stay on the garment bag for a few moments.

“It doesn’t feel like mine.” He admits after a pause, the words feeling like a kind of secret that’s more real now that it’s been given voice. “And I don’t know what to do with that information.” Griffon settles himself down on the dresser and seems like he’s debating something as he looks at V.

“Did you think it would?” He asks eventually and V looks around.

“Yes.” He says softly. “I did.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.” He admits. “I’m him, aren’t I? Shouldn’t it feel like mine? Shouldn’t something in here dredge up an emotion or _anything_? Shouldn’t I feel _something_ instead of this…out of place sensation I feel?”

“You’re not out of place V.” Griffon tells him. “You’re him, but you’re not.”

“One cannot be true if the other is as well.” V replies to that. “I either am or I am not.”

“Then you’re not.” Griffon says and that tightens something in V’s chest. “But I don’t think anything here is that simple V.” Griffon continues. “He was him, and then he split. Technically you _were_ him and with every minute that passes that becomes…less and less true.” They stay in silence for a moment.

“This was never meant to be a permanent solution.” V says and he’s not sure why those words have slipped off of his tongue and he feels an immediate urge to backtrack slightly once he’s said them. “We’re constructs created by the whole. We’re not real, we’re just…a bookmark in the page. Holding the place until the story’s ready to start again.”

“You were always real V.” Griffon says with a shake of his head. “You’re the original’s humanity. He might have pretended you didn’t exist but look at you. You’re here in spite of that.” Griffon tilts his head slightly. “Maybe…maybe you gotta look at what that means to you. Or at what going back together means to you.”

“Is this all on me then?” V asks. “Have you and the others no opinion on the matter?” Griffon snorts like V’s said something funny.

“You’re his soul V. We’re just his nightmares made flesh. Even if you decide to go back, we won’t.”

“…you’re more than that to me.” V feels the need to say.

“Doesn’t change what we are Shakespeare.” Griffon replies before he shakes out his feathers. “But this shit’s getting too existential for me. In the end V, it’s gotta be your choice. You finally have one now, so it’s gotta be on you.” V’s eyes track the garment bag as he thinks about Griffon’s words.

Having a choice is a lot more terrifying than pretending you don’t. He hasn’t really made choices up till now, not really. He’s done what he thinks Vergil would have done or what Vergil would have approved of or what Vergil would have wanted of him all in a desperate bid to get Vergil back…it’s almost as if he’s desperate to have Vergil approve of him and what he’s done when he knows that’s not something that’ll ever happen. Even if Vergil were here.

He wonders if Urizen has similar thoughts, and then he determines he shouldn’t. Vergil cast V out, Urizen was just formed from what was left of the original.

He moves slowly at first, reaching out and pushing the garment bags into the back of the closet. He moves faster when he grabs the empty box and heads out into the room and starts to put Vergil’s things into it.

“V? V what are you doing?” Griffon asks, tracking him through the room.

“We cannot take the risk that Dante sees any of this and draws certain conclusions.” V says and the words feel like a lie on his tongue and he can tell that Griffon knows it, but he doesn’t call him out on it. He doesn’t know how to say that right now he can’t take the sensation of being surrounded by Vergil and V moves through the room, going through the drawers and putting everything of Vergil’s in it and he looks at the drawers once he’s finished and at the half empty sides of them and he reaches out, sliding the remaining clothes into the empty spaces. He pauses for a moment once he’s finished, before he reaches out and grabs the cologne and puts it on top, closing the lid and putting it away. The room feels strange afterwards, and V takes a deep breath in and holds it for a few moments before letting it out.

It feels symbolic. An answer or perhaps a reckoning that he’s scared to give voice to yet.

He turns and grabs a few items before he makes his way to the bathroom. A shower sounds divine right now, he still has grave dirt and pizza grease on him after all. He’s more than ready to get it all off.

“Hey V.” Griffon says and V stops at the door. “Who's to say it isn’t our time?” The question rests in the empty space between them.

“Urizen must be stopped.” V says eventually, in lieu of answering the statement posed. “That should be our first concern.”

“I can get behind that. One thing at a time. I like it.” Griffon replies. "But you wanted to know what I think about it? I think we like to exist...who's to say we shouldn't?" V takes a deep breath at the question and steps into the bathroom and turns the light on. He can’t help the amused look he gives at the absolutely ridiculous splurge that Vergil had allowed during the creation of this place. A tub, if it can be called that and not the love child of a pool and a hot tub resting inside a bathroom, resting at ground level that has far too many shower heads for one person to rationally need. V turns on the water and it takes him a couple tries before he remembers how to work the system before he unlaces his jacket and lets it slide from his shoulders as the water starts to fill.

Tomorrow is a new day. Maybe things will be clearer tomorrow.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup. Vergil's rich. Makes sense to me. (Granted I think that the Sparda family was significantly well off prior to the attack so Vergil doing something with all of that seems logical and legit to me. *shrugs* so that's the canon for this world)
> 
> Also, I was playing Mass Effect again and the shower/bathtub in the apartment just cracks me up and I was like - yup, I'm adding something this into this story. So now Vergil has a hot tub/pool like bathtub connected to his shower thanks to Shepard. This makes perfect sense.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG. Did I just write my first smut scene ever? Why yes, yes I did.  
> :-) I hope you all enjoy it!
> 
> And sorry for the delay in replying to all of the comments last chapter. Got a little sick there, so I'm catching up on them now! So sorry!

“Morrison undercharged him if he can afford digs like this.” Dante says as he takes a seat on the couch and kicks his feet up on the nearby coffee table. The entire apartment is…Dante’s not sure if he should say ‘opulent’ or just looking like something that just aired on one of those rich people ‘cribs’ shows. Sure, he’d known V was a pretentious little shit, he just hadn’t thought that he was _this_ level of pretentious. “Although it could use a few more things to make it homier. Like a pool table.”

“It’s got a piano.” Nero points out, looking at the baby grand off in the corner overlooking the city lights. “What the actual fuck. How does a guy with this kind of money end up needing us?”

“Demons.” Dante says with a shrug. “Gets them every time. Money can only do so much.”

“This isn’t money.” Nero says, before motioning around the room. “This is _money_.” He emphasizes the second word and Dante understands exactly what he’s talking about. “What the hell does he do for a living?”

“You never know, maybe it’s old money.” Dante says with a shrug.

“It has to be. No offense to V but I just can’t picture someone that looks like a runway model that got jumped by Hot Topic as someone who has a job that lets them afford _this_.” Nero shakes his head. “Or at least that just makes me feel better about myself.”

“Money’s not everything kid.”

“Wouldn’t know.” Nero replies. “Never had it.” Dante sends a glance at the younger devil hunter as he starts looking at the bookshelves. He does admit, this is unexpected. He had figured that maybe V owned a studio apartment or something, not an entire _floor_. Granted, it was just more proof that they didn’t really know anything about the other man.

“Anything interesting?” Dante asks as Nero looks over the book names on the spines. “Let me guess, more poetry?”

“Not this shelf.” Nero says, running his fingers along the spines. “ _The Republic, Nicomachaen Ethics?_ ” He makes a disgusted sound. _“Beyond Good and Evil, Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy?_ Who reads this shit?”

“Someone who quotes William Blake like it’s going out of style.”

“ _The Prince, The Brothers Karamazov._ ” Nero shakes his head. “This shit all looks boring as fuck.”

“So he likes his philosophy, our little poet.” Dante says with a hum. “I guess I’m not actually all that surprised.” He watches as Nero goes over to the cabinet next to the old-fashioned looking record player.

“Think he has any good music?”

“You’ve seen his book collection. What do you think the answer to that question is?” Dante asks and Nero makes a kind of agreeing humming sound. He opens it still and looks at dozens upon dozens of records stored in perfect little rows. “Verdict?”

“Couldn’t even begin to tell you.” Nero huffs. “I don’t recognize any of these, and I think this whole section is just instrumental.” He closes the doors before messing around in the background for a while, opening up new cabinets and just being an overall nosy little shit since V pretty much gave them a green light to get all up in his stuff.

Dante shifts and tugs his phone out of his back pocket and types in Morrison’s number. He figures he should actually check in, if only to be extra careful. He knows that Trish is good, but with Mundus sending goons around and if Vergil really is the one they’re going up against then a little extra caution might just be for the best.

“ _Speak_.” Morrison answers after the third ring and he sounds like he was sleeping before he picked it up.

“Light of my life.” Dante jokes into the phone. “Why don’t you ever call me? Are you ashamed of me baby?”

“ _What do you want Dante?”_ Morrison asks with a muffled snort.

“Heard from Trish? Pretty boy’s concerned that she might have run into some trouble or not finished the job.”

 _“Then he doesn’t have the first clue about who he’s hired.”_ Morrison replies to that. _“Trish checked in about an hour ago. Said she had some things to look into and then she’d be making her way over to you. Mentioned that she might have some concerning news when she gets there.”_

“Yeah, she’s not the only one. Any hints about what her news might be?”

_“You know her. She didn’t say.”_

“Yeah, sounds about right. Keeping things close to the chest seems to be the requirement these days.” Dante says as he rubs a hand over his face. “What about Lady? Heard from her yet? When’s she getting her ass here?”

_“She’s been cleaning up a few new demonic cells popping up, but she said if you haven’t cleaned all of this up in a few days she’ll be by.”_

“Alright, let me give you the address of where we’re going to be staying for a few days.” Dante says, rattling off the address that V gave the cab driver. “The front desk is going to hate us.”

_“Front desk?”_

“You’ll understand if you ever stop by.” Dante says. “Cool though, I’ll let the ever mysterious one know that Trish is stopping by.”

 _“Sounds good.”_  Morrison says and Dante goes to hang up when he hears Morrison call out his name.

“Yeah?”

_“I know you don’t need me to say this and that you don’t like it when I do…but be careful Dante. Something…something just feels off about this one. Watch your back okay?”_

“Aww sugar bear, you do care.” Dante pokes and he hears the telltale click of the phone hanging up and he chuckles to himself. Morrison’s got good instincts though, he’ll give the old bat that much credit. He’s not wrong, with each passing moment this whole thing gets more and more complicated.

Dante hates complicated. Complicated is a whole bunch of cloak and dagger bullshit. He prefers simple and he hates it when he doesn’t get it.

“I’m gonna turn in.” Nero says off in the background and Dante gives him a small salute.

“I’m gonna go let our host know to prepare for company.” Dante says, putting his legs down and pushing up from the couch. He heads over to where the master bedroom is and he can hear the soft sound of running water through the door. He knocks once, and he steps inside when he receives no answer. It’s clear where the water sounds are coming from, the light shining out from under the bathroom door and Dante glances around the room he’s in now. So this is V’s room? It’s like the rest of the apartment, large and tastefully decorated with the same intention of showing off the wealth behind. The blue and black scheme is soothing in its own way, but maybe Dante is biased when it comes to that color combination.

Dante finds himself walking over to the dressers, tugging one open slightly to see the almost scarce amount of black clothing contained within. Apparently, V has a color scheme and it only has one shade. The book is there, the one with the large stylized V on it and Dante picks it up again as he pushes the drawer closed, flipping open a couple of pages.

That demon on the train had referenced a poem in this. The whole thing with the ‘little lamb’ if Dante’s not mistaken by how V opened up the book and read a few lines before closing it in irritation. It does begs the question of, if it was this Urizen who gave such a moniker to the green-eyed poet, of how well do they actually know each other? They’d have to have at least something more than a passing acquaintance, but how far does that go? Sure, Dante’s seen V with this book and he’s heard him throw out random snippets, but something about the whole thing seemed like… _more_.

 _“Little Lamb who made thee, dost thou know who made thee?...Little Lamb indeed.”_ The words that V had all but spit at back on the train echo around in Dante’s mind. Is that a clue to this mystery? _“I have no name, I am but two days old”_ He knows V isn’t actually two days old, not with a place like this under his belt and all those references he made to staying in France for a while. So what was the story? Where was the truth hidden amongst all of this?

And what role did V play in it? What role did Urizen and Mundus play? What about Vergil?

…What about Dante himself? What role has V sketched out for him?

Dante stops on a picture, of a person laying out under dark branches. He remembers this one. V read it on the train. A Poison Tree huh? Funny, all things considered with this Qliphoth threat hanging over their heads. All this fuss over a tree and power.

It’s always power. Or at least where Vergil is concerned. Everything is always about power.

There’s the sound of a lot of splashing on the other side of the bathroom door and Dante glances over with an arched eyebrow. It sounds like kids playing in a pool or something. He puts down the book back where he found it and walks over to the door.

“You’re going to get waterlogged.” V says on the other side amidst the sound of running water and more splashing. This time though there’s an extra layer to the story of what’s going on behind this door when he hears that crazy demonic bird cackle in glee. “Keep it up. But you’re going to get heavy and sink and then we’re both going to drown when I try to save you.” V’s tone is calm and clearly not actually trying to talk the bird out of the water if the continued splashing is anything to go by. “Shadow? Shadow what are you doing?” V’s voice sounds suddenly unsure before Dante hears him call out “Shadow no!” and then there’s the sound of the bird squawking and V letting out a cry of either surprise or dismay followed by the sound of a giant splash like someone cannonballing into a pool.

“Oh _nice one_ furball.” The bird snaps. “Bet you’re real proud of yourself.” Dante shakes his head in amusement as he hears this kind of pleased rumbling purr. He guesses he’ll tell V in the morning about Trish, from the sounds of it the man’s got his hands full right now.

He turns and heads out, going back to the ‘guest suite’ and he tugs off his jacket and his shirt, tossing them over the dresser. Nero’s already in bed and he’s lying face down like a dead man’s float on top of a mattress. He looks like he’s just died or something and Dante chuckles a little as he kicks off his boots and tugs off his pants.

“Everything okay there Nero?” He asks and he gets a kind of muffled agreement and a raised thumb and he shakes his head as he climbs in next to him.

It takes approximately two seconds before Dante’s lying in a position similar to Nero with no intention of ever moving again in his _life_. Seriously, he needs to be paid in this mattress. This thing was a threat to human security because if Mundus or Vergil sent this to Devil May Cry then he might never get up to come challenge them again. Hell, he’s not even sure he’s going to climb out come tomorrow morning.

He doesn’t actually know fully when he dozes off, or for how long he’s been out before something wakes him. It’s a sound, a kind of heavy breathing from right next to him and Dante turns his head to look at the younger devil hunter next to him. Nero’s shifted onto his back from the last time Dante saw him, and he’s staring up at the ceiling while clearly trying to even out his breathing and failing. Dante takes in how his hand keeps tightening and untightening on the blankets and he makes a soft noise of curious concern. “You good?” He asks and Nero doesn’t respond right away.

“What the _fuck_ is he?” Nero finally lets out in a quiet, tense whisper and the question bounces around in Dante’s sleep addled mind for a brief moment before he fights back the snort that wants to come out.

“Feel that do you?” He asks, getting ready to just lay his head back down and go back to sleep on the cloud heaven. “Nice isn’t it?”

“…nice is not the word I’d use right now.” Nero seems to ground out.

“And what word would you use?” Dante asks. “Nothing too basic, like tasty. Doesn’t suit him.” Dante mumbles into the pillow he’s laid his head back down on. “Tempting? Enticing? Seductive? Magnetic? You can cut in at any time.”

“Dangerous.” Nero growls out and it sounds more like a threat than a praise and Dante frowns, looking back at the other again. He takes back in the picture that Nero is painting right now, a little bit more awake this time and he can see the strain that Nero seems to be struggling against. Sure, V’s energy is powerfully alluring but nothing the kid shouldn’t be able to handle…oh… _oh._

“Shit, that’s right.” Dante says, a sudden clarity hitting him. “Crap, I forgot. Oh, you must be feeling it _bad_.”

“What the fuck does that even mean?”

“Like calls to like.” Dante says and Nero gives him an irritated look. “His blood kid. You’ve had his blood.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“You’re weaning off of it, and you want more.” Dante explains. “And you sense the source nearby.”

“I don’t feel like I want to go eat him.” Nero points out and Dante can’t help the smirk that crosses his face.

“Doesn’t always come out that way. Sometimes, and I’m just guessing here let me know if I’m not in the ballpark, but sometimes it can come out as an urge to go down the hallway and nail pretty boy into the mattress until he _screams_.” Nero lets out a groan that lets Dante know exactly how he feels about that image. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

“It’s never been like this before…” Nero groans. “I’ve never felt this way with you.”

“I never let you bite me.” Dante points out. “Now you know why. Demons can be fickle and they can be greedy. You and me? We’d probably destroy a city block before we fucked each other’s brains out if we ever fed on each other. Just trust me, bite the wrong person and there goes the neighborhood.”

“Fuck this demon shit.” Nero snaps and Dante doesn’t manage to stop the huffed laugh that time.

“Well I’m not arguing with you there.” He agrees as he looks at Nero. “Want me to take the edge off?”

“I’m not just going to use you because I’ve got a demon boner.”

“Aw that’s sweet.” Dante coos and Nero flips him off. “But you’re not. I’m offering. Wanna take the edge off and go back to sleep? I’m game. Wanna lay there suffering all night? I’m game for that too. Try to get out of this bed though and I’m going to wipe the floor with you, so I guess I’m game for that too but V might not be too happy with us afterwards.” Dante tilts his head. “So, which is it going to be? Edge off or sleep?” Dante gets his answer with the shaky hand that reaches out for him long before Nero mutters a quiet ‘please’ before tugging him down into a kiss.

It never ceases to amuse Dante how Nero has two settings: hard or sweet. There’s nothing in-between, and it’s clear what this one is as Nero tugs him on top of him and Dante has to tug the blanket out of the way. “I can see this isn’t going to last long.” Dante mutters against Nero’s lips playfully at the already insistently rocking hips against his leg before he even fully manages to get into the correct position.

“Fuck you.” Nero snaps breathlessly, giving Dante a small nip on his lip in a clear sign of irritation that just makes Dante grin, not at all chastened.

“Don’t think that’s on the table for tonight.” Dante says as he grabs one of Nero’s knees and shifts himself to slide between them, pushing in at a much better angle that has both of them groaning against each other’s mouths. “So…just mildly curious.” Dante huffs between perfectly executed rolls of their hips. “You thinking about him?”

“Damn it Dante.” Nero groans and Dante huffs out a chuckle.

“Yeah, you’re thinking about him.” He says. “Tell me.” He asks and Nero shakes his head no. “Why not? A fantasy’s a fantasy…and god he’d be so pretty.”

“Sounds like you’re the one with the fantasy.” Nero groans but Dante doesn’t miss how he pulls him even tighter to him.

“Tell me.” Dante whispers into Nero’s ear as he moves down the others neck with soft bites that don’t break skin. “Tell me Nero.”

“…those hands.” Nero finally relents with a groan. “Fuck those hands.”

“Very distracting.” Dante agrees, his own mind remembering those long fingers against that book’s spine or casually flipping pages. “Are you picturing them, sliding down his body? Or wrapping around your cock?” Nero makes a wounded noise, his thighs tightening around Dante’s hips. “You picturing it Nero?” The other nods immediately to his question.

“You?” He asks a moment later and Dante nods himself. He is, heaven or hell help him, he is. So much for being a professional.

“Yes…” He admits and the next few thrusts are a little more unhinged and rougher than he meant them to be, not that Nero is complaining with how he gives back just as good. “Probably while biting that damn bottom lip.” Dante mutters with a shaky exhale. “Shit.” He hisses out and it’s clear that while Nero’s on the edge, Dante’s not far behind him. Granted being surrounded by V’s energy while fantasizing about the guy probably isn’t helping anything and Dante’s own mind is betraying him.

Or maybe it think’s it’s being helpful since it pops up exactly what V looked like in Dante’s bed, against his sheets with them riding low…the way he took Dante’s finger into his mouth and swirled his tongue over it…the _noise_ he’d made when he greedily sucked on his bottom lip – “ _Fuck_ ” Dante hisses out as his end hits him like a fucking punch to the gut and he’s inordinately glad that he can feel Nero shaking through his own completion, his hand jerking up to cover his mouth in an attempt to probably not alert their host of their current activities end.

Dante rolls off Nero pretty much immediately afterwards, the shaking and thrumming in his limbs shifting quickly into relaxed lethargy as the two of them lay there staring at the ceiling and catching their breaths.

“…well fuck.” Nero mutters and Dante feels like he seconds that.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! So this is one of the last chapters that'll be posted outside of the Friday update schedule for a while. There will still be an update this Friday though so don't worry! 
> 
> And thank you all for the amazing reviews - seriously I love them all and please keep them coming!

If there was one frivolous thing that V would say he misses outside of the physical strength and near invulnerability of Vergil’s true form, it’s the lack of sleep that a half-breed requires in a day. That’s never been more true than when he wakes up in the morning with the sun in his eyes and an overwhelming urge to just roll over and ignore it.

Of course, that’s not something that he can actually do, and he rather abhors how much he’d still like to do it regardless; but there are things that need to be done, calls that need to be made, signs that need to be studied, items that need to be collected and all of that happens outside this bed.

…Unfortunately.

V lets out a soft sigh as he slowly lifts his head from the pillow, letting out a small puff of air to move some of his unruly hair out of his face after he does. He squints unhappily at the window and the sunlight streaming through the blinds that he didn’t have the foresight to close last night before he turns his gaze to look at his companions lying on the bed with him. Last night, Griffon had been worried about Nero’s first night around V when his shielding dropped completely and about the pull of the blood that they’d shared back in the hospital room, because of that the two of them had decided that they were going to ‘keep watch’ over V all night long least a showdown with the next generation of the Sparda bloodline needed to occur.

…Apparently ‘keep watch’ meant that at one point in time in the night the two of them had crawled into the bed and fallen asleep themselves. Shadow’s curled up by his legs, not taking up too much space despite her sheer size while Griffon is just the opposite, lying sideways on the bed flat on his back with his wings spread out and his feet sticking straight up in the air. The image makes V huff slightly in amusement as he reaches out and lightly flicks one of those clawed feet

“…I’ll bust a cap…” Griffon mutters like a would-be threat, stretching out his little legs up into the air for a second before settling back down to continue sleeping. V lets out a rather undignified snort of laughter, covering his mouth with his hand quickly to make sure not to wake Griffon before he shakes his head, tossing back the blankets and sliding out of the bed. Shadow lifts up her head at his departure and he gives her a small smile as he pets her lightly as he walks off to the closet to grab a few items to change into.

He splashes some water over his face when he goes into the bathroom, hoping the cool water will chase away any lingering cobwebs of sleep clinging to his mind. He pats his face dry with a towel before he looks at his reflection in the mirror. He can’t help but think about how he doesn’t look a thing like Vergil. There’s nothing here in these features that harken back to the original form and V finds himself wondering for the first time why? Why doesn’t he look like Vergil? Why doesn’t he share anything other than a hair color with the man? Why are his eyes green? Shouldn’t they be blue? What an odd thing to have change for reasons unknown. He tilts his head a little and questions why the separation between the two halves of Vergil created two distinctly unique beings that seemed to share no commonalities with the original other than a collection of memories that feel more like watching a movie reel in his head then truly experiencing any of it. Why is that? Why does he feel little to no connection with his own self?

_“You were always real V. You’re the original’s humanity, he might have pretended that you didn’t exist but look at you. You’re here in spite of that. Maybe, maybe you’ve gotta look at what that means to you.”_

V leans over the sink a little, running his fingers over his skin and making a few faces in the mirror just to watch the reflection mimic his movements before he runs his fingers through his hair, pushing it back from obscuring any part of his face. The black hair is still strange, but it seems less and less so with each passing moment – a sentiment that V feels he’s finding to be true on many levels these last few days. It does bring up a question: what is he going to do the first time he summons Nightmare? What is he going to tell Dante when these strands return to the snowy white of his birthright? The only sign of his Sparda heritage, the only thing shared between all of them.

What is he going to tell Dante when everything invariably comes crashing down around them? How long does V think he can actually keep the secret before it comes out as all secrets tend to do? What if Urizen reveals his duplicity to Dante before V does? What if someone else does in an attempt to destroy them and drive a wedge between them?

_‘A truth that’s told with bad intent, beats all the lies you can invent.’_

V lets his hair fall back into place with a sigh. Everything is quickly becoming so convoluted and complicated. He wonders a little if Vergil ever considered this scenario to be the one that would play out. That the human half he discarded would run to Dante’s side for aid and protection while what was left behind sought to gather more and more power for reasons unknown. How much thought did Vergil give to this last stand of his before he acted on it? Truth be told…V doesn’t actually know the answer to that. Objectively he knows why Vergil did what he had to do and how he came around to the conclusion to attempt such a crazy thing, but the motivations, the thoughts and the concerns about making that choice are strangely absent from V’s memory.

It makes V wonder what other memories he’s missing. Does Urizen have them? Or is he missing them too? Are they some piece of Vergil that somehow didn’t make it into the two entities born that day?

 _Born_.

V’s mind stumbles a little over that word. Is that how he’d describe what went down at the old manor? Were they born from Vergil in that place or just merely created? Born implies something more than just ‘merely created’, it implies something more than just being thrown out to crumble and die. Born implies life…it implies choice…it implies so much. Were V and Urizen born?

V looks down at the edges of the counter that his grip has tightened around and he feels slightly sick for a brief second.

Born is a dangerous word to choose. Born implies a life which means the only real word he can give to reforming with Urizen is…death. Non-existence seems a kinder description and yet holds just as cold a comfort as death does. What would happen if he sought out his other half and attempted to reform Vergil? It was agony to split, being speared and ripped out…what will it feel like to rejoin? Will it be the opposite? Or will it be just the same?

…will it be like dying? What does dying feel like? What if…what if he doesn’t want to die? He may not have Vergil’s looks but he has his need to survive. He didn’t ask for Vergil to do this, he didn’t ask to be born and he shouldn’t be asked to die to fix it. What if he doesn’t _want_ to die?

_“I think we like to exist. Who’s to say we shouldn’t? Who’s to say it isn’t our time?”_

V glances back up at his reflection and he sees uncertainty and _fear_ there. What if he doesn’t want to die? What if he wants to actually go to France and see the Louvre that Vergil never found time for, or to actually taste salmon and sorrel and see if he even likes it? What if he wants more time to sit down and read a book that Vergil’s never touched? To make a memory that is _his_ , completely outside of Vergil or Vergil’s mistakes? What if he wants things that are his? Dreams that are his? Family and friends that are _his_?

The truth of the matter is that V hasn’t been anything but an offshoot of Vergil…he doesn’t know how to define himself without him.

What would it be like to define himself _for_ himself? For _only_ himself? Not Vergil’s past mistakes or Urizen’s insane crusade…just V, whoever that is?

Those thoughts rattle around his mind as he gets dressed and they continue to do so when he leaves the room to go seek out food in the kitchen. Dante and Nero are both already at the kitchen island, discussing something with each other and they both turn to look at him, easy smiles crossing their faces when he comes over. Those smiles are for him, those are his right? They have no reason to be for anyone else and certainly not for a ghost that haunts V that they know nothing about.

“Sleeping Beauty’s finally awake.” Dante says with a grin. “I was just starting to get worried that one of us was going to have to go in there and give you the kiss of life.” V gives him a look over his shoulder as he heads to the fridge that he hopes imparts just how early it is for Dante’s particular brand of being obnoxious, and it’s clear that it doesn’t hit the mark because if anything Dante looks _more_ entertained.

“Sleep well?” Nero asks in greeting and V nods as he tugs open the fridge door. Whoever got tapped to stock the fridge has done a good job from what he can see and he guess that he shouldn’t really be all that surprised as he contemplates what to do. He ends up reaching for a few containers of fruit, not wanting to risk his hand at attempting to cook anything in front of an audience and he puts them down on the island between them.

“Oh!” Dante says, getting his attention as he taps lightly on the counter. “I wanted to tell you that Trish is stopping by at some point today.”

“Do we know when, approximately?” V asks as he pops open the containers.

“Nah. Morrison said she had some stuff to look into before she’d be by.” Dante replies with a shrug.

“Does she have a cellphone that you might call so that we can know?” V questions and Dante gives him a look like he’s being slightly daft and that he’s missed something.

“Trish comes and goes as she pleases. You’ll get used to it, plus she tends to fry any cellphone she has on her so she just stopped trying to carry one at some point. Don’t really remember when, but whatever.”

“Oh…I guess that makes sense. I hadn’t thought about the difficulties of maintaining electrical devices for someone with her powers.” V says. “Very well. I’ll just let the front desk know that I’m expecting company at some point and to just let her in when she arrives.” V looks down at the containers in front of him and there’s a moment of stillness as he contemplates it. He knows what Vergil would do if he were here right now and something in that knowledge has V reaching in and pulling out a strawberry before he bites into it with a strange amount of satisfaction and defiance.

For such a small, inconsequential action it feels like rebellion and a softly building war cry not at all unlike the one Urizen roared when he was free. He knows that it’s childish, getting such a heady feeling knowing that Vergil would have been displeased with such an action. It was rude and uncouth and akin to drinking out of the jug, and even though V knows he’s never tasted a strawberry with his own tongue before this one is so sweet.

_“You were him and with every minute that passes that becomes…well less and less true.”_

He takes another bite, making a soft pleased sound and licks the juice that it leaves behind on his lip. He didn’t even realize how famished he’d become until this moment and he feels like the fruit in his hands is nirvana. He does know one thing now, he likes strawberries. He opens up his eyes and glances at Dante and Nero who are both just staring at him. “…is something the matter?” He asks once he’s swallowed and he gets two immediate shakes of the head.

“Good strawberry?” Dante asks and there’s something there in his tone that V can’t figure out and V gives him a slightly unsure look as he nods.

“Very.”

“It looked it.” Nero mutters and Dante slowly reaches out for the container.

“Can I have one?” He asks as he does. “They look really, _really_ good.” V nods as he pushes it over to him with undoubtedly an even more prominent look of confusion as he does.

“You’re being rather odd.” He tells him and he watches as Dante and Nero give him looks like he’s missed a cue or something before they glance at each other with exasperated looks.

“I don’t think he has a fucking clue.” Dante mutters with a shake of his head and Nero huffs.

“Not even fucking fair.” He says in some kind of solidarity and V knows he’s missed something that must have been obvious but he’s not sure how to ask for clarification without feeling foolish or stupid, so he just presses on.

“There are some things that I’m going to need to do today.” He tells them both. “And if you’re amenable, there are some errands that I would appreciate if you ran for me while I did so.”

“You want to split up?” Dante asks and there’s something slightly tense in his question and V nods.

“It would be the best-case scenario. With multiple hands on deck then that means that multiple issues can be handled all at once.” V points out. “The sooner we gather our forces and the sooner we get a grip on everything we need going forward then the sooner we challenge Urizen.”

“No, I hear you.” Dante says, taking a bite. “I just don’t think we should split up. Never know what nasties are waiting around the corner.”

“I think it’s safe to say that none of us are easy targets.” V says with a small smirk and Dante looks like he tries to match it but he falls short of the mark.

“Doesn’t mean we gotta test it.” There’s something there that makes V bristle a little.

“I hired you to stop Urizen, Dante.” V feels the need to remind him. “Not to shadow my every move.”

“It’s not about that.” Dante’s quick to assure. “You’ve got your secrets, sure whatever. Everyone fucking does. I just think that we should be a little more…cautious until we kick this guy’s ass.” Nero matches the look that V has when they both look at Dante. Since when does Dante advocate for being ‘cautious’ and not just running in there with no shirt and swinging his sword?

“…Dante’s not wrong.” Nero says, backing Dante up although it’s clear he doesn’t know why. “Splitting up tends to be the stupid thing that everyone always does in a horror movie before they all die.”

“We’re not in a horror movie.” V feels the need to point out and Nero just rolls his eyes.

“Yeah, no offense V, but I’m pretty sure our lives are _worse_ than any horror movie.” Nero states. “We’ve got demons and crap up to our ears. I guess I agree with Dante that we don’t really need to be making their jobs easier when we don’t have to.” V glances at the two of them who are clearly about to dig their feet in about this and V would have rather they didn’t.

“Why do I feel as though the two of you are ganging up on me?” He asks mostly to himself but Dante snorts and smirks.

“Trust me V. If we were _ganging_ _up_ on you, you’d know.” He takes a bite of the strawberry in his hand like he’s said something funny that leads to Nero unsubtlety kicking him under the island and V sighs.

“Very well, we’ll do it your way for now.” He says as calmly as he can. “I will remain here to make my calls and wait for Trish. You and Nero can go pick up what I need.”

“Sounds good, but we’re going to have to wait until Trish gets here. I’ve got stuff I gotta talk to her about.”

“If it takes her longer than a few hours then I would caution that we should not waste the time.”

“You said we had some time to kick back.” Dante says and V shakes his head.

“No. We have time before Urizen can choose to attempt another ritual.” He corrects. “That does not mean that we just get to rest on our laurels until that time.” Dante holds up his hands in appeasement, clearly choosing to just agree with V and V nods once at that.

“Hey V.” Nero says, opening back up the conversation pathways. “You never mentioned what you did for a living. I mean, these are some _nice_ digs. What’s the story? How long have you lived here?”

_Tell them. Just…just tell them. You should tell them the truth. The longer it remains unsaid the worse it will be._

“I’ve never actually been here before in my life.” V admits slowly, his hands feeling slightly clammy as he gets surprised looks from the two across from him.

“You’ve never been here? But it’s your place, right?” Nero asks and V takes in a deep breath, getting ready to steel himself for the reaction…when the remembrance of why he didn’t tell Dante in the first place rushes back to the forefront of his mind. Vergil and Dante didn’t leave on good terms and the last time he saw Dante the other man was _killing_ him. He’d known who Nelo Angelo was at that point, he had to have and he just ran him through and walked away, choosing to mourn over the ‘death’ of Trish and hold her close and cry while not even giving a backwards glance to the brother whom he once claimed to love above all others.

If Dante found out that any part of Vergil was using him? That any part of Vergil was making his life difficult again? …He’d turn on him. Best case scenario is he abandons him – worst case scenario is he lashes out and kills him. V can’t take on Dante, not like this. This form will never be powerful enough to do something like that, not to mention the issue of whatever volatile response Nero will have to learn that the man who ripped off his arm, the one he’s practically been foaming at the mouth to dismember in return, is standing a mere five feet from him.

The ‘truth’ dries up in his throat immediately and for a brief moment he flounders, not knowing what to say in response to the question.

_“We are not brothers” – “We are nothing else.”_

“…you could say it was my father’s.” V replies, the words slipping off his tongue easily. Not the worst lie he could tell and to a point he figures it’s not a lie at all. They were born of Vergil after all, and was that not a simple answer to an unbelievably complex question?

“Your dad huh?” Dante asks. “Is he going to be dropping in on us? Do we need to start wearing shirts? Does he know about all of this?”

“Yes, you need to put on a shirt, and no.” V says. “He’s…not with us anymore.” Nero and Dante cringe at his words.

“Oh shit, sorry.” Dante mutters and V shakes his head.

“Don’t be, we were never all that close.” V says to that.

“You weren’t?” Nero asks and V gets a smile that he’s pretty sure is too brittle, too cold and too bitter to not show how he feels about certain things and it shows far too much of the truth.

“He wasn’t my biggest fan.” _Actively thought that I was the only thing keeping him away from everything he wanted. Actively tried to smother me out every chance he got. Thought I was weak and that I held him back. Threw me out like trash with all the crumbling parts of him._

“Crap. Shitty dads are the worst.” Nero offers up in a kind of condolence that’s sweet but unnecessary.

“As it is, he has no use of it and we do.” V says. “We needed a place to stay and I saw no harm in…commandeering it.” V looks down at the container. “You know, he would have been rather cross to see us eating out of this.” He looks up. “Without proper plates, I mean.” Or maybe he would have expected it from Dante since he often compared his manners to being as if he was raised in a barn, but certainly not from someone who was supposedly formed from him.

“Ah, that explains it.” Dante says, leaning back slightly like everything has just righted itself in the world. V gives him a confused look. “You were _way_ too pleased about eating that strawberry.” Dante explains. “You were sticking it to the old man.”

Not an incorrect observation.

“Perhaps I should not be so childish.” V replies as he closes the container and Dante shakes his head.

“Nah. Sometimes little things like that can help you keep your head when everything else is going to shit.” He says and V inclines his head slightly.

“As it is, I should grab more than this and get started on the day.” He motions to the living room. “You are free to entertain yourselves as you see fit. As long as you don’t break anything.”

“V, that hurts me. It’s like you don’t even know us.” Dante says, putting a hand over his heart and Nero snorts while V arches an eyebrow.

“Dante, it’s because I’m coming to know you that I said it.” V informs him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> V's a fool. A misguided fool, but a fool. He should just tell Dante the truth, but apparently drama is the hill that this story wishes to plant it's flag on and I guess we're all just along for the ride. :-) 
> 
> V's 'truth' quote comes from Auguries of Innocence by Blake.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to Friday Updates! :-) Looking forward to seeing you all at the next one! And once again THANK YOU for all the amazing comments! I adore them and they help keep me going!

V disappears into the office immediately after breakfast, closing the doors behind him and doing who knows what in there. That leaves Dante and Nero alone in the vast apartment to entertain themselves in the meantime until Trish’s arrival. Normally, Nero would say that he doesn’t usually have a hard time finding something to keep himself busy, but unfortunately that doesn’t seem to be the case right now. Although he figures that it wouldn’t be such a hardship if V’s old man had found it in himself to decorate this place like a normal person or like someone actually lived here and put up a bloody television. Hell, Nero can’t even find a pack of playing cards and it solidifies the idea that whoever V’s father was, he was a boring as fuck old timer.

Not that Nero couldn’t have gotten that impression just by walking through this ‘apartment’. It’s an odd feeling that he got last night when they first arrived and that feeling hasn’t really gone away. This whole place is _lavishly_ decorated, looking like something out of one of those home magazines that Kyrie likes to look at when she’s trying to pick out new curtain colors or plates or something and it all just feels so _fake_. No, not fully fake – cold. More like how Nero would feel when they were first looking at places and they’d see the ‘decorated’ options in order to help ‘visualize the space’ before you move in and fill it with all of your stuff. It feels like all of the things one would expect is here, but nothing that actually says ‘someone lives here’ – like a pretty picture of a beautiful house with no heart in it. It’s unsettling.

It paints an interesting picture about V though, and it points out some questions that Nero didn’t even realize he fully had. V seems…not fully apart of the real world. It’s like V’s stepping out into the world on his own for the first time and he’s stumbling around like a newborn colt while trying to pretend he’s a fearsome stallion. He hasn’t had pizza, he doesn’t eat out of the cartons, he’s never played a video game and he doesn’t know how to rely on anyone outside of his little demon friends who have promised him he’ll never be alone.

Alone…Lonely and alone. That’s the feeling that Nero gets walking around this place. Like the opening stages of trying to make a home and never fully figuring it out. Like a hollow place just waiting to be filled. It doesn’t make Nero think much of V’s father.

Dante doesn’t seem to be bothered by any of it though, granted very few things outwardly bother the older devil hunter and so Nero figures that even if he did feel as unsettled by this place as Nero does, Nero would never know it. Right now though, he seems quite content to just stretch out on the couch, eyes closed and arms crossed behind his head like he has nothing more pressing to do in the world than to take a nap right here and now.

Sometimes Nero’s a little jealous of how easily the other can just laze around without showing any concerns or needs. He can be a little jealous of how Dante can joke and snark and generally be a lighthearted nuisance no matter what the hell is being thrown their way. Sometimes Nero wonders if it’s all an act – a good one – but an act nonetheless. After all, it does tend to make everyone else around Dante relax minutely regardless of the opposition because if Dante isn’t worried, why should you be?

Nero wonders if that’s a heavy burden that Dante wears and never lets anyone know he does. Knowing that everyone looks to him to see if they’re going to be alright and knowing that in the end everything will almost always end up resting on his strength and his fortitude to pull them through.

And he always has. Each time he’s pulled them through and Nero doesn’t think he’s ever heard him complain once about it. Sure, he’s made a few jokes but nothing that really shows how Dante feels about being _‘Dante the Legendary Devil Hunter’_. If Nero’s honest with himself, he couldn’t do that, and it kills him. Sure, Nero’s made sure that he’s not as much of a burden to Dante these days and he thinks he’s done a lot of growing up in a very short amount of time but sometimes he can still feel so stupidly young in the face of everything.

“Do you think we’re staying in what should have been his room?” Nero asks looking at the books again. There’s still a whole bunch of nothing here.

“Fuck I hope not.” Dante mutters. “But I doubt it.”

“Why?”

“Feels like a guest room.” Dante says with a shrug and Nero knows what he means. Did his father even _want_ V to stay with him? Did he even make any space in his life for him?

“He said this place was his old man’s?” Nero glances at the room where V slept last night. “Does that mean he had to sleep in his dad’s bed? Cuz that seems fucked up considering they didn’t like each other.”

“Eh.” Dante mutters, not opening his eyes. “Looks like someone already came through and emptied out his stuff. There weren’t a lot of clothes in his drawers.”

“You went through V’s drawers?” Nero asks him with a surprised look.

“What? I can be nosy too.”

“Oh I’ll bet. Perv.” Nero pokes and Dante smirks slightly.

“Not like that at all kid. This place didn’t feel…” Dante trails off like he’s not sure what words to put to it and Nero makes an agreeing sound. “I wanted to check to see things out of sight, things someone might not check. It was obvious that someone had just started moving in.”

“I wonder what his old man was like.”

“Utilitarian?” Dante guesses with a shrug. “What’s it matter?”

“I don’t know. I guess I’m always a little curious about other people’s families.” _I never knew mine Dante, you know that. Sometimes I fixate on others to make up for it._

“From what V said, they didn’t get along very well.” Dante says, having cracked an eye open and looking at Nero like he’s heard what Nero didn’t say and he’s checking in on him to make sure he’s fine. He is and he’s sure to show that, but it’ll always be a touchy spot for Nero even if he’s finally gone and found a family of his own to make up for his lack of it.

“Yeah, I can’t imagine how that could be. I mean, this guy clearly radiated warmth.” Nero pokes at one of the philosophy books and Dante snorts softly. They fall into silence for a bit before Nero runs out of things to look at. “Wanna arm wrestle?”

“V will kill us if we break something.” Dante responds and Nero huffs, coming over and kicking Dante in the leg out of building irritation. “Ow.” Dante says and he doesn’t even try to make it sound like it hurt at all. “What was that for?”

“I’m bored.”

“Take a nap.”

“I can’t just take a nap whenever and wherever. I’m not you.”

“Maybe you should try it.”

“I think one of you is more than enough.” Nero says with a tiny laugh and Dante’s lips quirk.

“You’re not the first to say something like that.” He replies and Nero comes over and takes a seat. There’s a pause before Dante speaks again. “How are you doing?”

“Fine.” Nero brushes the concern off immediately and Dante tilts his head back to look at him on the couch.

“I’m serious Nero.” He says. “How are you doing?”

“I’ve lost an arm and the Yamato which might go on to be used to destroy the world, my bad; and I’m hot for the goth Jasmine to our dumbass Aladdin’s.” He rolls his eyes and leans back and he hears Dante huff out a laugh.

“Did you just make a Disney reference?” He asks and Nero shrugs.

“We’ve been watching them with the kids.” He offers up in explanation.

“Nice.” Dante says before he sighs softly. “And I told you before, you didn’t lose Yamato.”

“So you tell me, and yet.” Nero makes a motion to his missing arm with a heavy amount of sarcasm.

“You didn’t ‘lose’ Yamato Nero.”

“Yup, you’ve said that already. Not sure I believe you.” Nero says and Dante sighs.

“Do you remember what I told you about the sword when I first let you keep it?” He asks and Nero frowns, looking at him and nodding slightly.

“Yeah.” He says. “You said it was used to seal off the demon world.”

“That’s not all, what else? I told you something else that day, something important to what’s going on right now.” Dante presses and Nero frowns, thinking about it.

“I don’t know?” Nero says slowly. “You said it was your brother’s?” Dante nods and makes a kind of ‘there you go’ motion with his hand. “But I thought you said your brother was-” Nero’s quick enough to catch himself before he says ‘dead’ “-gone.”

“Apparently not.” Dante replies with a tired sigh. “He’s back and kicking up trouble as usual.”

“Wait…so you’re saying the guy who took my arm…that was your _brother_?”

“Most likely.” Dante agrees. “Yamato will always choose Vergil over anyone else. Dad made the sword his, and it remembers that. It answers to no one over him.”

“Vergil?” Nero asks, testing the name on his tongue with a frown. How does someone name one kid a badass name like Dante and another _Vergil_? “Wait, I thought V said this guy’s name was Urizen? If it’s your brother, who the fuck is Urizen?”

“V thinks they might be the same person, just in different forms.” Dante says. “We’re not really sure. The only thing we are sure about is that whoever it is needs to have his ass kicked and for some reason that job always seems to fall to me.” There’s something in those words, something heavy that Nero feels Dante isn’t meaning to dredge up.

“…were you close?” Nero asks. “You and this Vergil?”

“Once.” Dante says softly after a pause. “We were once. Then shit happened, and then we were and we weren’t all at the same time, and then he was gone.” Dante lets out a tired sounding sigh. “We were so stupid.” That sits between them for a bit.

“…do you miss him?” Nero finds himself asking and Dante lets out a huff.

“Every damn day.” He mutters. “Every damn day.”

“What are you going to do when you see him again?” Nero can’t seem to stop himself from prying. “I mean, he’s trying to destroy the world and kill like thousands of innocent people.”

“He does that.” Dante chuckles and Nero doesn’t fully feel like that’s a laughing matter. “And I’ll do what I always do because we’re emotionally stunted morons who never learn from our mistakes.” It’s odd to see the humor drain itself out of Dante. “I’ll stop him. He tends to leave me no other choice.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It is what it is.” Dante says. “This is the path that Vergil’s chosen for us. It’s horrible and it’s shit and I wish he wouldn’t but there’s nothing to be done about it now. The shit he’s put me through…the shit he’s going to continue putting me through…he’s going to do what he’s going to do and there’s nothing I can do to make him change his mind. Like I said, it is what it is.”

“Could you forgive him?” Nero asks. “With everything? Everything he’s trying to do? If he came here right now, could you?”

“You don’t get it.” Dante says with a small shake of his head. “I don’t need to forgive Vergil. I forgave him the second he did it. Every single time.” There’s a little bit of guilt that chokes Nero at that revelation and he almost regrets that he pushed. “Promise me something Nero.”

“What?”

“Promise me you won’t take on Vergil, or Urizen, or whoever he might be right now.”

“What?” Nero snaps, sitting up straight and the earlier guilt is gone from him. “What the fuck Dante? Why even bring me here if you’re just going to keep pushing me to the sidelines-”

“It’s not like that.” Dante cuts him off. “Honest, it’s not. It’s just…it’s personal. Let me handle it…please.”

“That’s a low fucking blow Dante.” Nero growls, his fist clenching. “And it’s not something I can promise. What if you’re not there? What if I have to stop him?” He motions his arm out towards the office door. “What if I have to protect V?”

“If it comes down to that then you fight your hardest and you don’t hold back.” Dante tells him. “But if things aren’t that dire, if you can get away…then do that and leave him to me.”

“I don’t run from fights Dante.”

“I’m asking you to run from this one.”

“Why?” Nero asks. “I mean, wouldn’t it be easier to let me handle it? If it is your brother and if we have to…stop him, then wouldn’t it be easier on you to let me do it? I don’t know the guy. There’s no emotional ties between us. It won’t fuck me up to take him out…I’m not so sure you can say the same thing.” Dante lets out a soft huff like something that Nero’s just said is funny in some way before he finally sits up and looks at him.

“Look, I know you don’t like me to say it, but you know we’re not in the same league.” Dante says and it rankles Nero like it always has. “I’m not saying it to be an ass, it’s just a fact. You’re good Nero, one of the best and you’re getting better, getting stronger but you’re not there yet.” Dante makes eye contact with him like he’s trying to impart some important knowledge or information. “Vergil is my brother. He’s my equal in almost all ways and in the ways he’s not – he’s _better_. He’s kicked my ass more times than I care to count. I’d bet on you in a heartbeat against almost anything, you know that.”

“But not Vergil.”

“But not Vergil.” Dante agrees. “Almost anything or anyone else Nero, but not him. Vergil will tear you apart if you get between him and his goal and he won’t even blink.” Nero takes a few moments, letting the irritation and frustration die down inside of him. Dante’s right of course. Nero’s getting better, understanding his powers and his limits more and more each day, but he can barely touch Dante on a good day and something tells him that he’s never actually see Dante really push himself to the limit. What does that mean this Vergil guy can do?

“…Fine.” He says eventually. “But I’m only agreeing because he’s your brother and you asked nicely.” Dante nods at his words and they’re able to fall into a companionable sort of silence for a few minutes before the elevator doors chime and Trish steps out into the apartment to the view of two people pointing guns at her. Dante a little more lazily than Nero is, but that’s normal, and she just arches an eyebrow at them. The silence between them all is almost immediately broken when Dante bursts out into peals of delighted laughter at the image Trish is presenting right now. She looks like a character from the Stepford Wives who just stepped out into living color.

“I have to say, I like.” Dante manages to say once he’s stopped laughing, clapping his hands for her like she’s done some grand performance and Trish bows with a wink before she twists and her shapeshifting powers return her to the usual looking leather getup that Nero’s used to seeing her in. Trish glances around the room before resting a hand on her hip.

“Morrison should have charged more.” She says and Dante makes a please sound and looks at her like she’s just said the most brilliant thing ever.

“That’s what I said!” He crows and Nero rolls his eyes. “So what’s the news? You’re a little later than I thought you’d be.”

“Had to run down a few leads.” Trish says with a shrug. “Things I had to look into, you know the drill.”

“Anything interesting?”

“Very.” She replies with a kind of sigh. “Apparently there are rumors of a demon going by the name of ‘Urizen’ who is in the beginning stages of declaring a coup against Mundus.”

“Yup, heard about him.” Dante says and Trish arches an eyebrow.

“You have?”

“V.” He offers up in explanation. “He thinks Urizen is just a new name that Vergil’s going by these days. Anything else?” She shakes her head as she steps over his legs and takes a seat on the nearby chair like a queen amongst peasants.

“Nothing concrete.” She says. “V thinking they’re the same person could go hand in hand with other rumors I’ve heard. Demons saying the ‘seed of Sparda’ is challenging Mundus and Mundus has apparently awoken from his seal and has created a whole team of Nelo Angelo rip-offs to piss him off.”

“He’s going to piss off more than just Vergil if I see one of those bastards.” Dante mutters and Nero frowns wondering who ‘Nelo Angelo’ is. Trish nods at Dante’s words.

“And there’s rumors that Urizen intends to plant a Qliphoth in the human world and feast on it’s fruit.”

“Giving a big ‘fuck you’ to Mundus.” Dante says. “Yeah, V filled us in on that too.” Trish arches an eyebrow at that.

“V seems to know a lot.” She says carefully, and even Nero can read between the lines what she’s saying. She’s calling V’s trustworthiness into question, and something about that irks Nero but he barely manages to keep his mouth shut.

“Oh, and speaking of Mundus – bastard sent a messenger last night.” Dante says.

“Oh? What did Mundus want?”

“To offer a truce.” Dante says with a curl of his lip and Trish gives him a look like she thinks he’s pulling her leg and she doesn’t appreciate it. “No, I’m serious.” The look falls from her face instantly.

“Why would Mundus reach out to you for a truce?” She asks. “And why would he ever believe that you’d take him up on it?”

“Oh, probably because he promised to cease aggressions against me and the human world for a millennium.” Dante says with an almost throwaway sort of tone and Trish’s eyebrows raise.

“Seriously?”

“Yup.”

“Well if all that crap from before wasn’t proof enough that Vergil’s behind the scenes, that would surely do it.” She says. “But what did Mundus want from you for it? Mundus doesn’t offer anything without demanding something in return.”

“He wanted V.” Dante replies and both Trish and Nero stare at him at that revelation. Nero’s the one who snaps out of it first.

“What?” He practically growls. “Okay, who the fuck is this guy and what the fuck does he want with V?”

“Mundus is the name of the demon king.” Trish offers up.

“You know your little stories about Sparda?” Dante adds in. “Well they’re not as off base as one might have thought with all that ‘savior’ bullshit. Mundus was the name of the evil he fought to banish back to the demon world.” Dante doesn’t look at him. “He’s also the one who murdered my mom and tortured Vergil.”

“…he tortured him?” Nero asks, feeling like there’s a lot to this story that he doesn’t know and Dante nods.

“Look, I’m not going to sit here and pretend that Vergil’s a saint, but I’m not going to pretend that he isn’t a victim either. And honestly, anything that Vergil wants to throw at Mundus the bastard had coming to him. That and so much more.”

“Nero makes a good point though.” Trish says eventually. “Why V? What could Mundus possibly get from him?”

“Don’t know, haven’t asked.” Dante replies.

“Haven’t asked? Shouldn’t it have been the obvious question after you told him?” She gives Dante a hard look a few seconds later. “You _did_ tell him, right?”

“Come on Trish. V’s barely opened up to us since we’ve met. I didn’t want to shut any doors that were barely cracked open. I mean, he still hasn’t confessed about the Yamato. I don’t feel like he’d respond well to being given the third degree about Mundus.”

“Wait, Yamato?” Nero cuts in, looking at Dante. “What does V have to do with Yamato?” Dante gets a small cringe at that.

“Oh fuck. I forgot you didn’t know.” He says and Nero gives him a ‘get on with it’ look. “V has a piece of the Yamato with him and before you ask – no I don’t know how he got it. I just know that he has it.”

“How is that even possible?” Nero asks. “That Urizen guy took it, or Vergil or whatever the fuck his name is. How would V have managed to snatch it?”

“Maybe because he didn’t get all of it.” Dante says. “Just a small piece. I can sense it on him, and to a point I think you can too. It’s all twisted up with his own energy, but it’s there.” Dante makes an exasperated motion with his hand. “And honestly that brings up so many questions that I don’t even have the slightest clue how to start answering.”

“What kinds of questions?” Nero presses.

“Well, lets look at what we know. We know that Vergil took the sword from you, it had to have been him. I know that it was used almost immediately afterwards for something big.”

“He did say he was running out of time.” Nero recalls and they look at him. “They guy who came into the garage. He said that he was taking the sword back and that he was running out of time.”

“Running out of time?” Dante repeats. “Running out of time for what?”

“Fuck if I know. He didn’t exactly stop to chat with me and have a beer after he ripped my fucking arm off.” Nero snaps and Dante cringes slightly.

“Yeah, guess not.” He mutters before he presses on. “Well, whatever he needed Yamato for he used it and then he went silent. Taking on a new name or hiding behind this Urizen character for some reason. We also know that V somehow after whatever he used it for ran off with a piece of the sword. He showed up at Devil May Cry the next day and we’ve pretty much proven all of this demonic tree bullshit. Now, we have to add on Mundus who wants V. This is what we know for certain.”

“V must know something about Vergil.” Trish points out. “If he was at ground zero when it happened, then he must know something. He’d be the easiest pawn to break in order to get that information if Mundus got his hands on him. He must have learned something or seen something he shouldn’t have.”

“Or this Mundus thinks he has.” Nero says and Trish shakes her head.

“No, Mundus wouldn’t make an offer like that to Dante unless he knew without a doubt that what he wanted he could get from V.” She looks at Dante. “And I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Mundus wants Vergil back. He may never have cared about any of us but he took a sick sort of thrill, and pride, in Nelo Angelo. No one stood against him and lived to tell about it…well…no one but you.”

“Vergil held back.” Dante says softly. “He recognized me before I figured out who he really was. He fought Mundus’s control…he endured the pain of fighting back against that bastard for me. If he hadn’t, I might have found myself in the same position he did when he went up against Mundus, if I even survived that long.”

“We need to tell V about this guy.” Nero says and Trish nods.

“You should have told him when you found out. Having Mundus on his ass is something that V needs to know about, if he doesn’t already.” She says and it sounds like she’s scolding Dante who holds his hands up in surrender and appeasement.

“Alright, alright. I admit. Stupid play on my part.” He sighs. “Well I guess we’ve got a team meeting coming right up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! Some truths are coming out! Until next time you all!


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a day early but this is Friday's update! Gonna be real busy again tomorrow and I want to be sure that I get it up for you all! So here it is! 
> 
> Notes:  
> So apparently Nightmare can be summoned for long periods of time in that tiny 'hold it in his hands' form. Oh, and V makes poor choices when he's panicking.

It ends up playing out that the items that V needs to collect to prepare for Urizen’s new ‘plan’ are rather complicated to track down due to their uncommon nature and such short notice, but V is nothing but determined and single-minded in his focus when he needs to be and he eventually tracks what he needs down.

V pushes a lock of white hair behind his ear as he listens to the woman on the other side of the phone read back his order to him. Shadow is resting at his feet under the desk and Griffon seems more interested by whatever he’s seeing out of the giant windows while Nightmare is in the process of trying to tackle the small paperweight statue on the desk as V thanks the woman while he writes down yet another address to stop by at today to pick up his items. The tiny golem seems to bask in his victory when he knocks it over before moving off to another area of the desk to go ‘fight’ something else.

“Did you get everything?” Griffon asks, flying over and landing on the edge of the desk.

“Yes, that was the last of it.” V says as he returns the phone to the receiver. “We’ll need to return to the cemetery at some point.” V takes a moment and reaches out to stop Nightmare from going over the edge of the desk and corralling him back into safer areas.

“How do you intend to ditch the Tweedles out there?” Griffon asks him and V sighs. Dante’s new ‘buddy system’ is going to be a complete pain in that regard.

“I don’t know.” V admits. “But we must find a way. If the spell was handled incorrectly then the results could be catastrophic if left untreated.” V takes a moment to think about the ‘Grand Plan’ that he’s worked out so far of Urizen’s. The decision that the other has made to degrade the ley lines is _beyond_ foolish. Ley lines were powerful boons if used properly, yes – he’ll give Urizen that, but they’re also unpredictably fickle and easily overwhelmed. Even the most skilled of practitioners can lose control of a spell that touches a line network and the fallout was nothing short of disastrous: earthquakes, sink holes, thinned veils between the demonic and the human world, plagues, sicknesses, taint poisoning the ground and water and air. There were a multitude of reasons why Vergil had chosen not to go that route all that time ago and instead chose to resurrect the Temen-Ni-Gru.

And Urizen should know that, he should know that even Vergil at full power decided that the lines were just too uncontrollable and would require far too much oversight to be of any real use to him. So what was he thinking? Did he truly not care about the potential extent of the damage left in his wake? Was Urizen truly so greedy and so desperate for power and for it all to happen ‘right now’ that he’d take such dangerous risks?

V doesn’t know. He can’t really weigh in on his ‘brother’s’ train of thought and that irks him. There are too many open variables and too many unanswered questions for V to be assured of any answer he might come to and so he’s being forced to rely on guesswork and he’s quickly learning that he _hates_ relying on guesswork.

The thing is though…if V _were_ to guess…he’d say that Urizen didn’t strike him as the ‘bull in a china shop’ that this whole plan is looking like. If Urizen truly was that hasty then he wouldn’t have permitted V to get away in the first place and hinder him. Even if he thought V was worthless like Vergil before them, V had still stolen Yamato’s power from him. If V’s honest with himself, Urizen could have easily caught him when they were first formed and killed him long before he could have warned anyone about anything.

Which means that he’s willingly let V slip away _twice_.

Why? To what end?

“You’d be taking a big risk to go back.” Griffon says. “Even ignoring the trouble that ditching those two is going to be.”

“The risk I would take with the city is greater if I don’t.” V says as he tilts the pen in his hand slightly and play fights with Nightmare for a few moments, and he can’t help the small, fond smile that crosses his face before he lets Nightmare ‘beat’ the pen. “Urizen may not care about what happens to the city if something he does goes wrong, but I do.” V can’t help but wonder for a brief moment how much easier it would be for him if he didn’t have to worry about things like that and he kind of resents Urizen a little for how much simpler his side of the plan is. He doesn’t have to worry about the damage he leaves behind or the cleanup that’s required in his wake. It seems that all of that falls on V’s shoulders, to once again fix his other selves’ bad decisions.

But just thinking about the people outside of this apartment puts a strange feeling in V’s chest. He can see a line drawing itself between the three of them. Vergil looked down on humanity and saw little to no value in their individual lives. Urizen clearly couldn’t be bothered if thousands of them were slaughtered for his own gain and V?

…V doesn’t actually want anything to happen to them.

Is this how Dante feels when he thinks about the humans under his ‘protection’? Is this what he feels that leads him to picking up his sword over and over again in this unending spiral of fighting and pain that seems to be his lot in life? Is this feeling what he tried to impart on Vergil before he fell? Is it what drove him to fight his own brother despite the haunted look in his eyes and the subtle pleading in them for Vergil to change course?

Will that look be the same look Dante gives Urizen when V sends him in there to kill him?

Does V have any right to ask Dante to do that?

It’s not the first time that V’s questioned this, but it’s the first time that it really hits him and seems to curl around his heart in a vice like grip. How many times is Dante going to be forced to kill his brother? Does V have any right to ask him to do it for him? If V isn’t intending to reform with Urizen then the fight will end with Dante killing him and in essence killing Vergil – and if for some reason V does reform with Urizen then how cruel will it be that Dante will be forced to look Vergil in the eyes again as he tries to destroy him once more? Maybe he’ll succeed, maybe he won’t…maybe neither result really matters because he won’t want to. Or maybe he doesn’t care, maybe he’s buried Vergil so many times that going off to kill him again is like going to go kill any other demon in existence.

“What’s goin through that big brain of yours Shakespeare?” Griffon asks and V sighs as he reaches out and picks up Nightmare before putting him down on the ground and Shadow gives V a kind of ‘really?’ look when the little golem starts attacking her tail.

“I’m just wondering how many people have to die because of this stupid plan.” V says. “How many more need to be hurt for this unending desire for more power?” He glances at Griffon. “When did it become about power for powers sake? Wasn’t it once supposed to be about protecting those we loved? When did the honor fall away into this greedy and self-serving thing? Was it always this and we just lied to ourselves? Pretended we were doing the right thing even when we weren’t?”

“You’re not him V.” Griffon says after a brief pause and V huffs out a soft laugh.

“But I have the same wants…the same desires.” He admits. “I want power too. I’m not going to lie and pretend I don’t. Being this-” He looks down at his hands. “-it’s nerve wracking to know that I’m nowhere near what I was once. To know how fragile I am…how _weak_.”

“You’re not weak.”

“I’m not what I once was either.” V retorts quietly. “I’m nowhere close to it, and because of that I can’t _do anything_.” He clenches his hands into fists. “I have to rely on Dante to fix _my_ messes because I can’t.” Griffon doesn’t get a chance to reply to that before Shadow’s head pops up and she lets out a soft growl and V reaches down quickly to tap Nightmare and pull him back in. It’s not a moment too soon when there’s a knock at the door and Dante sticks his head in.

“Everything good in here?” Dante asks and V nods, motioning to the pad of paper in front of him.

“Yes. They’re just waiting for us to pick up the orders now.” He says.

“That’s good…uh, we’re wondering if you can come out here? There are some things that we need to talk about.” Dante says and V frowns slightly but he nods again, and as he tears out the page, putting it in his pocket as he stands Shadow and Griffon return to him. V follows Dante back out into the living room area to see Nero on the couch and it’s the first time that he sees Trish with his own eyes.

The demoness is sitting in the chair looking unimpressed by the world and V can’t help but think how she looks _so much_ like Eva. It almost takes his breath away and he has to stop himself from recoiling and going back into the office to prepare himself better for this. For a moment he wonders how Dante can handle that, then again, he probably doesn’t have nearly the same triggers that Vergil would have with crossing an Eva lookalike. After all, there’s pain and rage and _so much hurt_ between Vergil and Eva that even though V would rather it not bleed over into the interactions between himself and Trish, it’s clear by the tightening in his chest as he looks at her that it’s not going to be something he manages completely.

V follows Dante over to them and he takes the seat opposite Trish – he hopes he’s not being obvious that he’s trying to be as far away from her as he physically can be in this space – as Dante claims the spot on the couch next to Nero.

“You said that there were things that needed to be discussed?” V prompts when no one says anything for a few minutes. “I don’t mean to rush anything, but there are a few places that I need to visit before the day is done.”

“You mean ‘we’.” Nero corrects him and V sighs.

“While I appreciate Dante’s sudden need for a ‘buddy system’.” V says, looking at Dante. “There are some things that I need to do today that do not require an audience.”

“What do you need to do?” Dante asks and V arches an eyebrow at him.

“Things.”

“You’re not going alone, V.” Dante tells him. “We’ll go with you.” V makes a soft humming sound as he crosses his legs and leans back in the chair for a moment just to take in the older devil hunter.

“ _I_ hired _you_ Dante, not the other way around.” V tells him calmly after the pause. “As such, I do not answer to you.”

“You hired him to protect you.” Trish says and even her voice is the same. V doesn’t think that he’s one for the pointless use of explicatives, but he feels a ‘fuck you Mundus’ is completely justified. “Doesn’t that mean that a little bit of ‘answering to him’ is required?”

“I hired him to aid me in stopping a threat and to fight alongside me in those moments.” V corrects. “What we do in-between those times is our own concern.”

“You shouldn’t go off on your own V.” Dante says and V levels a look on him.

“I’m rather capable on my own.”

“I didn’t say you weren’t.”

“You’re implying it.” V tells him. “Poorly.” He takes a slow, deep breath and lets his fingers tap on the arms of the chair for a moment. “I will admit that Urizen is a bit more than I can handle, which is why I reached out to you. As I’ve expressed prior, I would rather not have done that, so it would be wise to not push.”

“Maybe this Urizen guy isn’t the only thing you need to worry about.” Nero says.

“Perhaps.” V replies with a small incline of his head. “But he is certainly at the top.”

“Why did you reach out to Dante?” Trish asks and V glances at her.

“All that matters is that I did.” He says, keeping his tone level. He doesn’t know what this is, but he’s starting to feel on the spot and he doesn’t like it one bit.

“You don’t like answering direct questions, do you?” Trish asks, tilting her head a little but this time there’s amusement in her voice.

“It depends on the question.” He says and she gives him an eyebrow arch like he’s just proven her point and he figures to a point he has so he’ll give her that. “But I wasn’t under the impression that I came out here to be grilled.”

“You didn’t.” Dante says, finally rejoining the conversation. “That’s not why we called this meeting. There are some…things we need to talk about and some questions that I’m hoping you’re willing to answer for us although I’ll admit I’m not too hopeful.”

“You can ask.” V says. “I do not promise to answer.”

“Why?” Nero asks. “We’re all in this together right?” _“You’re not goin up against this guy alone is all I’m saying. You don’t have to feel like you are.”_  Nero’s words from before echo in his mind. “Isn’t it better if we didn’t keep secrets from each other?” For some reason, V can sense that he softens his tense posture a little when he addresses the other man.

“Somethings are better off not known.” V tells him and it’s the unvarnished truth as far as V is concerned.

“Like why you have Yamato?” Nero asks and that soft feeling is immediately gone as V feels himself tense all over again and Dante gives Nero an annoyed look before smacking him upside the head.

“…Yes.” V says as carefully and as calmly as he can. “Like that.” So they knew? That’s…not good. That’s too much information in their hands. Have they figured it out? Are they playing with V and waiting for him to ‘come out and say it?’ Or has Dante not made the connection yet? It’s only a matter of time if he hasn’t.

That’s not good. V will have to be more careful in these coming days. Like he wasn’t already working with one ticking clock now he has another. Joy.

“Are you working for this Urizen guy? Or were you ever working for him?” Nero asks, rubbing his head.

“No. To both.”

“What about Vergil?” Dante asks and V shakes his head.

“No.”

“Then how did you-” Nero starts to say but V holds up his hand.

“I will not answer that. Do not bother to ask.” Nero frowns slightly at V’s words but he surprisingly falls silent. Not the reaction that V would have initially assumed that Nero would have had. “I am not, nor have I ever been on Urizen’s side.” V tells him. “I have not lied about that.”

“But you have lied.” Nero points out and V doesn’t say anything to that. What can he say? They all already know the answer.

“V…we need to know what you know.” Dante says with a tired sigh and V gives him a look.

“I’ve told you everything I feel you need to know at this time.”

“That’s…not good enough.”

“It’s going to have to be.” V tells him. “For I will tell you nothing more than that.”

“Mundus is looking for you.” Dante says and those words settle into his mind and freezes his heart while the air feels like it’s sucked right out of his lungs. For a horrifying moment the world feels like it tips on its axis and V has the feeling like he’s going to be sick with the terror that rushes through him at those words before he forces himself through sheer force of will to breath again. He can’t imagine what he looks like to them right now, but he can guess it isn’t good.

He’s given something away, something he didn’t mean to.

“…Mundus is awake?” V asks and he’s actually impressed with how calm and neutral his voice sounds.

“I take it you didn’t know?” Dante asks, looking at him and probably seeing far too much because V feels flayed open and raw right now.

“Which part?”

“Either.”

“You’d be correct then.” V admits, relaxing his fingers from their tight grip on the couch arms. “…I see, thank you for that information. I will keep that in mind.”

“Why is Mundus after you V?” Trish asks looking at him with Eva’s eyes and V’s starting to feel like this is all too much.

“What makes you think I know?” He does. God he knows why. How did Mundus find out about him? And how much does he know? Does he know just how vulnerable his old pet Nelo Angelo is right now?

“Because he offered to make a deal with Dante for a thousand years of peace just for him to hand you over without a fuss.” She says.

“Did he now?” V asks and it feels like there’s ice in his veins.

Mundus knows. Mundus has to know. There’s no way he’d offer up anything of the sort without being absolutely sure about V’s existence. This…to say this doesn’t bode well is such an understatement that V can’t even begin to quantify it.

V knows why Mundus would offer such a thing to Dante and it has very little to do with Urizen or the Qliphoth threat. It all stems back to the one problem that Mundus was never able to solve.

Adding demonic power to a demon is simple, but there are limits to what can be given. The real power lies in a mix of the human element in all of it. That’s what makes Vergil and Dante so unique and powerful – and now Nero by proxy – but adding power to a human tends to end up twisting and killing the host. Nothing Mundus ever did allowed for the bonding between a human host and demonic energy. It only ever ended up in possession and each one always rapidly broke down like all the others. No matter how many attempts Mundus tried to do to make his own hybrid demons, no matter how many experiments he did – it never worked and it drove him _insane_.

…but V would survive.

V would offer Mundus the chance to create his perfect version of Nelo Angelo. Like unresisting clay in the sculptor’s hands, none of the problems he experienced with Vergil when he tried to rip out Sparda and replace it with himself. V’s already wired to bond with a demonic force – and that means that somehow V has just become the impossible ingredient that Mundus has always desired and searched for since Sparda’s betrayal and the creation of the first hybrid.

Vergil just did all the work for him and handed him exactly what he wanted when he cast V out.

 _Fuck_.

“You shouldn’t go out alone.” Dante is saying and V tries to focus on his words but it’s harder than it should be. “You’re in a lot of trouble here V whether you want to admit it or not. First Urizen and Vergil and now Mundus? That’s a lot of powerful enemies knocking at your door. We want to help you, but you’ve got to let us.”

_“You’re not goin up against this guy alone is all I’m saying. You don’t need to feel like you are.”_

Those words were sweet when it was just Urizen, but now Mundus? God he should have never gotten the boy involved. He should have never gotten any of them involved but what choice did he have?

 ** _Fuck_**.

V finds himself up on his feet and he doesn’t fully remember standing but he needs to be out of this apartment right now. He needs to be moving, he needs…he’s not sure what he needs but he needs it and he needs it badly.

“V?” Nero asks and his voice sounds concerned and V can see the concerned looks in their eyes as they’re now standing and looking at him.

“I hired you to aid with handling Urizen.” V says, finding his voice again. It takes him a moment but he squares his shoulders. “Any other concerns that I may have are not concerns of yours, but I appreciate the gesture.”

“Mundus isn’t someone you just take on by yourself V.” Dante says and V clenches his fist.

“I hired you to deal with Urizen.” V repeats firmly. “Not anything else. Whatever my problems might be are just that, _my_ problems.”

“Do you honestly think that we’re just going to stand by?” Dante snaps, looking frustrated for the first time. “You don’t know me very well.”

“You’re correct. We don’t know each other and I am not your concern. Focus on Urizen, that is the mission.” V says as he turns and walks over to the elevator, pushing the button and grabbing a jacket hanging nearby.

“Where are you going?” Dante asks as the doors open.

“I have things that must be done. I will return tonight. If you are still here, we will move on with the mission. If not, consider the payment to Morrison yours. For what you’ve done so far.” V goes to get in the elevator and Dante stops him. 

“V seriously? What the fuck, this isn’t a joke. Don’t be stupid.” Dante seems to beg him. V looks away from him, into the empty elevator and that feeling of ‘ _run’_ is rushing through his veins and screaming in his mind, but he needs to say this to Dante before he goes. There's one truth that he'll impart before he leaves. 

“I’m already asking you to kill your brother for me. I cannot and will not ask you and Nero to step in Mundus’s path as well.” V gives him a look that he hopes touches upon the apology that V can’t say aloud without explaining everything that he can’t. “I will return. I hope you are still here when I get back.” He steps into the elevator and pushes the button, meeting Dante's eyes one final time before the doors close.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A tiny bit early, but not by much. :-)  
> Hope you enjoy it!

V’s words hit him where it hurts for a few seconds and Dante can’t help how he just stares at him, their eyes meeting as the doors close and then he’s gone. The click of them closing sounds final in some way and Dante doesn’t know why there’s this feeling in his chest like his hesitation has just caused him to make a big mistake. It’s the same feeling that he had when he hesitated and Vergil fell.

Fuck. Vergil potentially being back has knocked all of these emotions that Dante thought he’d buried deep down back up to the surface, and now Mundus being involved probably hasn’t helped.

“Well that went horribly.” Trish is saying in the background as Dante stands at the elevator doors running V’s last words over in his mind.

_“I’m already asking you to kill your brother for me. I cannot and will not ask you and Nero to step in Mundus’s path as well.”_

There’d been something written there on V’s face, something in his eyes – past all of the fear and terror that the other man was trying so hard to keep down before he gave up the fight and fled. It looked like _remorse._ Not pity thankfully. Dante hated pity. Pity came from people who didn’t understand and who thought they were empathizing but were really just making themselves feel better. This wasn’t that – this was _guilt_. An apology in green eyes that wasn’t articulated with words but that Dante heard clearly.

It’s the first time that V’s put the word ‘kill’ to his request when it comes to Urizen or Vergil or whoever they are and whatever they’re doing. He’s been careful up till now and skirts around it with phrases like ‘stop him’ or ‘prevent him’ even though it’s always been clear how that fight is going to end. Vergil’s not one to stop once he’s put his mind to something.

It’s singularly his most powerful strength and his biggest weakness.

It’s not that Dante’s been fooling himself about where this is going this whole time. Sure, he’ll admit to entertaining the idea once or twice (so much more than that, so _so_ much more) that maybe, just _maybe_ this time he’ll find the right words. Those magical words that’ll make it through Vergil’s thick skull and get him to just stop for one second and just talk to Dante for once in their fucking lives.

It’s a pipedream, something inside of Dante knows that with absolute certainty. An impossible pipedream but one that Dante has been holding onto since V walked into Devil May Cry and first mentioned Vergil’s name and one that he’s held onto with all the fervor of a child believing in Santa Claus.

Can he do it though? Can he do what V’s hired him to do? Can he kill Vergil knowing full well who is behind the mask this time?

He hates himself when the answer comes back as yes. To protect this world…yes he could. What are two lives compared to the hundreds of thousands that will fall if he doesn’t? Unstoppable force meet immovable object. He hates that he also knows that it’ll probably be the last thing he does in this world too. He barely got up and kept pushing on after believing that he killed Vergil the last time, if it hadn’t been for Trish and Lady…but even with all they did for him those pieces never fully healed. Never fully fused back together in any sort of way…killing Vergil again?

If he succeeds Dante doesn’t really hold out hope that he won’t shatter in that moment. Like Humpty Dumpty falling off that wall, no one’s going to be able to put him back together again. He kind of pities them for the fact that he knows they’re going to try anyways.

_“I cannot and will not ask you and Nero to step in Mundus’s path as well.”_

V’s a fool if he truly thinks that he ever needed to ask. He’s a stupid fool if he thinks that Dante doesn’t still rage inside of himself every day, filled with so much hatred towards Mundus and towards himself at the fact that he wasn’t able to end the bastard back when they fought. Mundus killed his mom, tore his family apart, made him turn his blade on his brother – made him _kill_ him for his own amusement. Dante doesn’t doubt that Mundus was laughing like a sick twisted fuck when he sent his ‘general’ to go handle Dante. And that was after ten years of him doing who knows what to Vergil while Dante wasn’t there to have his back.

Dante should have been there.

If he had been, maybe none of this would be happening.

But V’s not being very good at pretending he’s as aloof and untouchable and uncaring about others as he tries to be. First the train, then Kyrie and now showing his concern for Dante and Nero? And it’s always at the cost of himself, but hearing about Mundus has really shaken him. Wise, Mundus should shake up anyone with one working brain cell – the one that apparently Dante and Vergil never had when it came to the demon king.

“We’re not just going to stand here and let him go, right?” Nero snaps, practically stomping over and hitting the button for the elevator with far too much force, far too many times, and far too quickly. It shakes Dante out of his little internal reverie.

“There are stairs.” Dante says, motioning over to the emergency exit stairwell. “We’ll take them and catch up with him before he gets too far.” He looks over to the demoness. “Trish, you sticking around?”

“I’ll catch back up with you tonight.” She says. “There are some things I’ve got to look into. If Mundus wants V and V won’t tell, maybe someone else out there knows the answer.” Dante nods.

“Sounds good. See you when we see you. Come on lover boy.” Dante says as he heads over to the door and Nero punches him in the arm.

“Shut up.” He growls. “And why didn’t you stop him? Why’d you just _stand_ there?”

It seems that V’s not the only one hitting Dante in all the soft places today without meaning to. Dante doesn’t know what to tell Nero though. How does he explain years of survivor’s guilt? How does he explain that for some reason his mind decided to make an arbitrary connection between V and Vergil and how it seems to be Dante’s lot in life to freeze up at the last second and let Vergil slip from his grasp? He doesn’t seem to learn from his mistakes, does he? Guess that’s something else that him and Vergil have in common.

Dante doesn’t bother to answer Nero, and it’s clear that the other isn’t really expecting one as they both hurry down the stairs, exiting out on the bottom and looking around the main lobby for a second. There’s no sign of V anywhere and the two of them go over to the doors and rush out to the street. For a moment they don’t see hide nor hair of him out on the sidewalk either and Dante has a brief moment where he has to hold back the irrational thought that they’ve lost him.

“He couldn’t have gotten far.” Dante says, going over to the small valet station. The young men standing there glance up at them as they approach and there must be something in their body language that puts the two of them on alert. “A man just came out. He’s this tall, black hair, walks with a cane? Which way did he go?” The two men take a second before they understand the subtle threat that Dante and Nero pose to them if they don’t say something and one of them points quickly.

“He went that way.” He says and Dante’s smile is probably not reassuring in any way.

“Thanks.” He says as the two of them hurry over to the edge of the building where there’s a small alleyway between the apartment complex and the one next to it. Thankfully, they see V pretty quickly the second they turn the corner. He’s made it a small distance in, but he’s not walking anymore. Instead he’s got his hand pressed up against the wall and his shoulders are hunched while that bird hovers around him in obvious concern. It looks up at them as they approach and Dante could swear that it looks relieved.

“V.” Nero says, alerting the other man to their presence and V quickly pulls himself upright, clearly trying to hide the panic still winding through him but he doesn’t turn around to look at them. “You shouldn’t have run off like that.”

“I believe I told you that I had things I must attend to.” V says and his voice has a slight shake in it. “I also believe that I told you to wait for me.”

“Yeah, no.” Dante says. “We’re coming with you. You can ignore us if you want to. We can even put our fingers in our ears and whistle really loud if you want to talk to people and not have us listening in, but we’re coming with you. It’s not up for debate.”

“I’m not your problem.” V says and his voice sounds almost angry.

“Never said you were.” Dante replies with a shrug. “And don’t kid yourself. We’ve never seen you that way.” V takes a deep breath before Dante sees his hand on the wall curl into a fist and it looks like V’s prepping himself for something.

Dante can already see where this is about to go long before V turns around to look at them.

“I thought I was being clear.” V says. “But evidently not enough.” The bird gives an uneasy glance to his contract holder.

“V…think about what you’re doing…” Griffon warns softly and V holds up a hand and he falls silent. It’s clear the bird’s looking at V’s suddenly squared off shoulders in despair. V looks like he’s getting ready to face down something. Dante figures to a point he is, he’s getting ready to face down himself. Pointlessly and foolishly – and for _them_ – but he’s still doing it.

“I believe this is where we must part ways.” V says. “I’m putting an end to our arrangement.” Nero makes a soft surprised sound. Seems like he’s not used to the look of someone about to shoot themselves in the foot before they do it. “You are more than aware of Urizen’s intentions at this point, and with Trish’s aid you should be able to stay on top of his movements far better than I could ever assist you with. If you choose to remain involved with stopping Urizen that is your prerogative, I’ve brought the concern to your door. What you do with it is up to you now.”

“What?” Nero snaps as he takes a small step towards the other man. “No V. What the hell? We’re not going anywhere. We’re in this together.”

“I came to make Dante aware of the threat. I’ve done that.” V says, his fingers gripping tightly on his cane. “At this point there really is no reason for us to continue working together. There isn’t much I can do for you now.”

“We’re not going anywhere.” Nero says with a shake of his head.

“Nero.” Dante says and the younger looks at him. “You heard him.” Nero’s face flips from confused surprise to a dark, frustrated rage in mere seconds.

“What the fuck Dante?” He shakes his head. “No, _no_.” He looks back at V. “Fuck that. I told you that you were one of us and I _meant it_.” There’s something pained in V’s eyes at Nero’s declaration. “You’re not going into this alone. Not against Urizen and not against this Mundus guy. We’re not just leaving you high and dry with them on your ass.”

“I’ve never asked for your help.”

“You didn’t have to.” Nero throws back in that oh-so-honest way that he can do and V looks like he’s fighting back whatever emotion wants to cross his face. “You didn’t _have to_.” Nero repeats softer. “Don’t you get that?”

“We don’t know each other.” V says to that, and Dante can see that he’s being stubborn, holding to his course even though it’s clear he doesn’t really want to and that it’s a bad idea. “I get it-”

“I really doubt it.” Dante mutters and V gives him an annoyed look.

“You feel like being some kind of knight in shining armors.” V shakes his head. “I’m not some helpless thing that needs your protection. Your aid is not welcome and is very much unwanted.”

“We’ve never called you helpless V.” Dante says. “Pretty, yes. Helpless, never once.”

“Is _that_ what this is?” V asks and he scrunches up his face in slight disapproval. “All of this because you find me visually attractive?”

“I don’t think there’s anyone who would say that they didn’t. Especially if they saw you eat that strawberry.” Dante says and Nero punches him in the arm. “What? It’s the truth.”

“Not helping.” Nero snarls and Dante sighs.

“It’s not a secret, or if it is it shouldn’t be.” Dante looks at V. “But you’re wrong if you think that’s why we’re here. You’re wrong if you think that the panic I felt when that demon said Mundus wanted you comes from the fact that I find you ‘visually attractive’.” Dante does little air quotes around V’s words. “You’re wrong if you think it held any sway over why we took those stairs five at a time to get down here as quick as we could – and by the way _no one_ needs to live in a place so high that there are that many stairs. It’s ridiculous.” V lets out a small huff of a laugh at that and he quickly reigns it in and pretends it didn’t happen.  

“You don’t know me.”

“I know you’ve caught the attention of the wrong people.” Dante says. “And I know you’re panicking.” Dante makes eye contact. “I also know that you’re trying to push us away in an attempt to protect us. I know that everything you’ve done since we’ve met, you’ve done to protect others.”

“You know nothing.” V says with a look of frustration. “Don’t paint me as some sort of selfless being in your mind, because nothing could be further from the truth. Everything I’ve done, I’ve done for me. Don’t fool yourself.”

“Really?” Dante asks, raising an eyebrow. “Why’d you take on that demon on the train?”

“He was after me. I dealt with it.”

“Hmmm…No, I don’t buy it.”

“Doesn’t change the truth.”

“You could have waited. Why not just wait?”

“He would have hindered us if he killed half of the train.” V says firmly.

“Okay, I’ll give you that.” Dante says even though he doesn’t. “Why’d you wake Nero up?”

“I saw use in him.”

“Really? So you went there intending to open a vein to wake him up for this little crusade?”

“If it ended this, I would have gladly opened up _every_ vein in my body.” V says and it’s terrifying to hear him say how far he’s willing to go to fight Urizen. “And I don’t have the luxury to be arguing with you here. There are things I need to do.”

“You don’t have to do this alone.” Dante says. “Maybe you’re used to doing things that way, I don’t know but I know that you don’t have to keep doing it that way. We’re here, we’re trying to help you. We _want_ to help you.”

“If you knew the truth…” V says softly with a shake of his head. “You wouldn’t.”

“That’s bullshit.” Dante says firmly. “Complete and utter bullshit.”

“You don’t actually know that.” V says. “Just…just trust me. If you knew who…if you knew…” He trails off with a pained look. “You wouldn’t be here…arguing with me.” He sounds like he tacks on the second half and it upsets Dante on some level.  

“Then tell me.” Dante says. “Tell me this horrible truth that’s going to make me walk away. I’m beyond curious to hear it. It must be a doozy.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because there are things I have to do. I can’t afford…” V shakes his head. “No, we’re not having this conversation anymore.”

“Fine.” Dante says with a nod. “You want to fire us? You want to cut ties? Fine. Done.”

“V.” Griffon says in a kind of horrified plea as V nods and takes a small step back from them.

“What the fuck? No it’s not done.” Nero snaps.

“Nero.” Dante says and the other looks at him. “You heard him. It’s what he wants. It’s okay.”

“It isn’t!”

“Sure it is. He’s not our employer anymore.” Dante says before he makes eye contact with V and gets a slow grin. “Which means that we don’t have to listen to him anymore.” V’s eyes widen in slight surprise. “Which of course means that we can go wherever the fuck we want. I happen to want to be in this alley right now. Who knows where I’m going to feel like going in a few minutes but you know how these things are. I like being flexible.”

“Dante.” V says and it sounds like a slight reprimand. “Just go. I don’t want you here.”

“Eh, like Nero said, we’re in this together.” He smiles at narrowing green eyes. “Which means you’re stuck with us. Whether you want to be or not. Sorry, no takebacks or refunds. I hope Morrison warned you about that before you signed the dotted line.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was giving me problems, and I'm still not satisfied with it but I needed it out of my hands at this point. So I'm posting early just to make it to where its all said and done and nothing more to be done about it. 
> 
> So please enjoy.

For a few tense moments, there’s nothing but silence in the alleyway as Dante and V just stare each other down. Neither seems willing to be the first to blink when the stakes have been laid out so clearly for caving first. V wants to sigh and pull his hair out and he also wants to smack Dante upside the head all in the same breath.

Why does he have to be so damn stubborn at all the wrong times?

But this is too important to let Dante’s headstrong nature and inability to think in the long-term derail. If they truly think that V’s doing this just to be contrary or whatever they’d be wrong. This isn’t about V – it’s about Dante and Nero. Mundus will tear them apart and he’ll do it just as gleefully as he did to Vergil. V can already see how this story is going, the inevitable conclusion and he’s desperate to get them off of that path. Mundus will wait. There’s no reason not to. V doesn’t have any good things to say about that bastard but he will give him this – he’s _patient_. He’ll wait until Dante’s fought Urizen and he’ll swoop in and challenge the victor in the aftermath. Either Dante will live and be weakened from Urizen’s power or the opposite will be true but either way whoever it is will fall. He’ll bide his time and then he’ll just come in and clean off the board. He’ll swoop in and take Dante and Nero and –

_Half-remembered recollections creep in at the edges of his consciousness. Memories of **agony**. The agony of being unmade piece by piece and then of having new ones that don’t fit shoved into the gaping holes like molten razor blades, shredding anything left behind. Memories of desperately clinging to any image that he could – of his mother, of his father, of Dante…. the one he held onto the longest was of Dante. He remembered Dante long after he forgot who he was. – before Mundus laughed and ripped it from him. _

Mundus would gladly and gleefully reforge Dante like he had Vergil all that time ago. In fact, it might even be worse. Vergil’s war against Mundus had lasted for many long months before he’d been taken down but he’d never managed to seal the other. The embarrassment and the loss of face that Mundus experienced being beaten by a half-breed would certainly come back to bite Dante in the ass. This whole thing had the potential of playing out to be the greatest thing to ever happen to the devil king. V helpless to his desire to make his own child and heir, Dante turned into the new Nelo Angelo and Nero…who knows what horrors he’d unleash against the young hunter.

V can’t let that happen. He _can’t_.

He should have never gotten them involved. He should have known that Mundus would have risen over the horizon like a horrible nightmare waiting to strike. He should have known. He should have predicted it, but he was too distracted by Urizen. Amateurish. He should have been better than that.

 “This is foolishness, Dante.” V says as calmly as he possibly can with the memories nipping at his heels. Griffon, Shadow and Nightmare might be the pieces of Vergil that were just _too much_ to handle anymore but that doesn’t mean they’re all of it. They’re just what was past what would break a mind to recall. The rest of it? That was his to bear. And now he’s standing in an alley with the very real fear of watching it happen again – but this time to his family.

The one thing that kept him sane for so long, was the fact that Dante was out of Mundus’s reach. Now the fool was running head first into yet _another_ confrontation with him for a complete stranger as far as he was concerned. “Walk away.” V’s voice doesn’t sound as solid as he would like. It sounds like a plea. “Just walk away. Take Nero and go. It’d be easier for everyone.”

“It’s like you don’t know anything about me at all.” Dante says, that devil may care grin that’s somehow never far from his face coming up to the surface. “I’m not really known for making things easier.”

“Dante.” V replies to that. “Just listen to me _for once_ and do what I ask of you.”

“Hey!” Dante retorts. “I listen to you all the time.” He doesn’t know how wrong he is about that simple statement. He’s never listened to Vergil, always so desperate to throw himself in his path and muck up his plans just to force the elder of the two to interact with him. He never understood why Vergil did what he did.

Then again, Vergil never took the time to explain. Maybe if he had, maybe he could have spared himself from the hell that ended up coming his way.

“You don’t need me to fight Urizen.” V tells him and it’s the honest truth. What is V compared to the demonic might and power of Vergil made horrifyingly real? All V is is the soft and unwanted pieces of a soul that was shattered beyond repair. What chance does he stand?

“You’re part of this team. You brought us the mission, are you saying you want to turn tail now? Sorry, I don’t buy it.” Dante says crossing his arms.

“You’re not going to stop trying to fight Urizen.” Nero points out. “It’s stupid to do that by yourself.” He takes a moment before he sees something in V’s face. “But this isn’t about Urizen at all is it? It’s about this Mundus fucker.” Never let it be said that Nero doesn’t cut right to the chase. “We can keep you safe from him.” The arrogance and foolishness of youth. Vergil had that once – and now he’s barely more than nothing.

“No you can’t.” V says and Nero puffs up slightly. “You don’t get it. Mundus can’t be beaten.”

“Anyone can be beaten.” Nero retorts and V takes a small step towards him and he wants to curl his fingers in his jacket and shake sense into him.

“Not him. You have no understanding of what he is. Of what he can do. Of what he’s capable of.” V snaps. “You think you’re unbeatable? You think you can become strong enough to take down any monster that comes knocking at your door wanting to rip your family from you? The ones you love and care about? You _can’t_. Mundus will rip it all to shreds and then hand it back to you just to watch your pain.”

“All the more reason not to take this guy on alone.” Nero snaps back and V’s laugh is cold and cruel and so reminiscent of the man he no longer is.

“Dante failed.” V tells him and he sees out of the corner of his eye how Dante flinches. “Vergil failed. He gave it his all and he still failed. Do you have any idea what Mundus did? Do you even have the slightest inkling of what he’d do to you if given half the chance?” V steps into Nero’s space and watches those blue eyes hold his. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to be unmade? To have the corruption eat you alive like acid in your veins and _nothing_ you do can stop it? To feel everything that you were slip away no matter how hard you try to hold onto it? It doesn’t matter how strong you think you are – you’ll break.” V shakes his head. “Take it from me, _everyone_ breaks. Everyone. Don’t risk that for someone you’ve known for two days.”

“My choice.” Nero says, holding his gaze. “And I’ve made it.”

“Then you’re a fool.” V says and his voice sounds tired and horrified. “A stupid, reckless, fool. You have no understanding.”

“Anyone can be beaten V. Even this Mundus asshole.” Nero tries to tell him and V lets out a soft chuckle, dropping his gaze.

“You’re right. Anyone can be beaten. One day, you’ll learn that means you as well.” His voice is quiet and haunted as he says those words. It was a lesson he learned once after all.

“How do you know Mundus?” Dante asks and his voice is gentle. “You know him.”

“What does it matter?” V says to that, stepping back from them. “It’s in the past. Nothing can change what happened.”

“He’s after you again.” Dante points out. “Doesn’t sounds very far in the past.”

“I don’t intend to let him have me again.” V says with a shake of his head and the second that the words leave his lips he knows that he’s said the wrong thing.

“What the hell does that mean?” Nero asks, taking a step forward to close the space that V has created and V steps back. “You’re going to do something stupid.” He looks so frustrated. “Don’t be so fucking fatalistic. We’ll protect you damn it.”

“You’re not listening.” V growls. “You _can’t_ protect me. I’m not someone you can save and I don’t want your help. This is something I must do alone.” He sees a look of something cross Dante’s face at those words.

“Yeah, fuck that.” Dante hisses. “Seriously, fuck that thought process. I’m sick and fucking tired of it.” There’s something close to frustrated rage on the older devil hunter’s face. “I’m done with people telling me that. The kid’s right. We’re staying, we’re helping. Deal with it.”

“Dante-”

“ _No._ ” Dante cuts him off and it surprises V a little. “I thought that was a real thing once. ‘Doing it alone’ and all that bullshit and all that did was take my brother from me.” Dante shakes his head. “I listened to Vergil when he said something just like that and then he was gone.” Did Vergil say that to Dante? Probably. He doesn’t remember it, but he doesn’t doubt it. “I should have gone with him.”

“No.” V says, the horror of the thought making the word slip out. “No. It was better that you didn’t.”

“I should have been at his side.”  

“Why would you ever think that-” He almost says ‘I’ but he catches himself at the last second. “-he would have wanted you there? To what end Dante? So that both of you could fall to Mundus? So that both of you could experience that?”

“Maybe we would have kicked his ass. If I’d been doing what I should have been doing and watching his back.”

“You would have fallen too.” V snaps. “What good would that have done?” Dante looks away from him and seems to struggle for a second to lock back down whatever emotions he has about Vergil’s fall deep inside of himself.

“I’m going to kill Mundus.” Dante says and it sounds like a vow. “I wasn’t able to last time but I got close. Stay with us. We’re your best chance for survival and you know it. We know it, and we’re not going anywhere because I’m sick of that fuck taking people from me.”

“Mundus didn’t take Vergil from you.” V says. “Vergil chose to fall. He chose to challenge him. He chose his path. He never blamed you for it Dante.”

“No offense V, but don’t talk about my brother like you know a thing about what he did or didn’t think.” Dante snaps at him and V just stares at him for a moment.

“Of course. That was unkind of me.” V replies. “I shouldn’t speak out of turn.” V takes a moment to collect himself. Too much has slipped out, he’s too raw and too shaken up. If he’s not careful he could say the wrong thing here. He could give too much away; he already has but he can’t help but press on. If by some miracle this is the last time he talks to Dante then he needs to say this. “But I had a brother I lost due to my own hubris once.” V says looking at Dante. “and if I could have told him how sorry I was…for everything. For everything I ever did to him…if I could have told him that he was right and I was wrong…I was so, so wrong in my desperation and fear and I pushed him away when I should have held him close – and how he was not responsible for a _single thing_ that befell me due by my own hand…I would, but I can’t.”

“Why can’t you?” Nero asks softly and V just continues to look at Dante.

“He wouldn’t want to see me.” V says honestly. “Through my foolishness I made an enemy that I never should have, and now he’s lost to me.”


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay! Here's the next chapter for you all! 
> 
> And OMG! Thank you for the reviews. It's the first time I've looked in on them and I swear that I love them and I will reply to them throughout the day!

The atmosphere in the alleyway is just as charged as when they first tracked down the other man and Nero knows that V’s not changed his mind or his stance. It’s clear that he’s preparing to take this fight all nine yards and then some and Nero just wants to pull at his own hair in frustration. There’s a horrifying fear that’s creeping up on Nero after several revelations that he doesn’t think V meant to give.

_“If it ended this, I would have gladly opened up **every** vein in my body.”  “I don’t intend to let him have me again” _ 

There’s something horrifyingly fatalistic about those sentences and for the first time Nero takes a step back and looks at the green-eyed summoner.

V doesn’t intend to survive this fight. That or he doesn’t think it’s possible. It knocks the breath out of Nero’s lungs to be hit with that realization. V’s a man on a ledge and Nero’s not sure how to get him down but he knows that he needs to do it soon or there won’t be the chance for it.

The problem becomes that Nero doesn’t know what V needs to hear. He doesn’t know what words are going to make him realize that he’s not alone in this. He’s got his little pets, sure, but he’s got Dante and Nero now. Hell, he’s got Trish and Lady too. They’re all here, they’re all waiting to help and he just _isn’t seeing it._

How long has he been alone? How long has he been without someone watching his back against horrible odds? Did it start with Urizen? Or did it start with this Mundus? What did Mundus do to him?

_“Do you have any idea what it’s like to be unmade? To have the corruption eat you alive like acid in your veins and **nothing** you do can stop it? To feel everything that you were slip away no matter how hard you try to hold onto it? It doesn’t matter how strong you are- you’ll break. Take it from me, **everyone** breaks. Everyone.” _

Did V break? Is that what they’re dealing with? Someone who hasn’t been able to put the pieces of a horrible event back together again?

It took Nero months upon months of dealing with what happened in Fortuna with the Savior. With Credo’s death and the remembrance of the sword running through his chest and the terrifying power unleashed within. Of being nothing more than a battery, drained dry and toyed with for another’s will…if it hadn’t been for Dante, that would have been Nero’s fate. To be locked up inside of that monster forever.

No, Nero doesn’t know what it’s like to be unmade, but he knows what it’s like to be toyed with and to be forced to watch as those you swore to protect are hurt and killed right in front of you and there’s nothing you’re able to do about it.

_“You think you can become strong enough to take down any monster that comes knocking at your door wanting to rip your family from you? The ones you love and care about? You **can’t**_.”

That’s a lesson that Nero feels on too deep of a level, and it’s one that he refuses to bow to. No, maybe he won’t be strong enough on his own, but he’s not on his own anymore. Not with Dante and Trish and Lady and all the rest of their odd little family? Maybe they can figure it out – together.

Nero takes a moment to watch the back and forth between Dante and V and he tilts his head a little to take V in, now that he’s calmed down and now that he’s thinking about it. Sure, Nero will be the first to admit that he tends to be reactionary. He doesn’t like to think about things and he doesn’t like it when things go wrong and he has just one tried and true method of dealing with almost every problem – punch it in the face and overcome it through sheer force of will. He’s fire, he comes in like an inferno and he leaves a memory of flame in his wake. A warning to those who might get any smart ideas, but he knows that’s not the only way to handle things. He’s seen another way – sometimes a better way – Kyrie’s. Where he’s fire, she’s water and he’s always thought that was so brilliant and it works for them, and Nero takes a moment and lets himself take a page from her book and he looks at the situation in a new light.

That’s when he sees it. The shaking in V’s body, this subtle thing that seems to be something he can’t hide. How his hand is clenched so hard around his cane that his knuckles are white. Those green eyes are wide and terrified and V’s falling apart right in front of them and they’re fighting him when that’s not what he needs.

As Kyrie would say, he doesn’t need a savior right now – he needs a shoulder. He needs to know that it’s okay to fall apart because there are people who care enough to catch all the pieces and make sure that they don’t break. That there are people who will hold those pieces until he’s ready to pick them up again. Sure, it’s only been two days as V has mentioned…but something in Nero doesn’t care, and he knows that Dante doesn’t either. Who knows, maybe it’s first sight bullshit or red strings of fate sort of crap, but Nero’s known since the first second that he laid eyes on V that there was a missing piece that V’s presence filled. Nero might not understand it, and he might never – but he knows how he feels and there it is. It might not make sense, but a lot of things in their lives don’t seem to so he doesn’t know why he should start thinking this would.

Nero steps forward at the pause, when he can see V pulling back up all those shields and walls to hide behind again like his life depends on it and he sees those eyes glance at him when he does and it looks like V’s about to say something cruel – something makes Nero feel like V would be particularly good at finding weak spots in someone’s armor if he were at the top of his game – and Nero doesn’t say anything, there’s nothing to say as he steps into V’s space, seeing the confusion for a moment and the obvious fear of physical retaliation and it hurts Nero to see it as he just shakes his head and then wraps his arm around V and pulls him to him in a tight hug.

V goes completely still and tense against him, but Nero notices how he doesn’t shove him away and Nero considers that a win.

“It’s okay.” Nero says softly against black hair. “It’s okay to be scared V. We all get scared.” V doesn’t say or do anything to his words. “You’re not alone anymore. We’re here.” He can feel the slight jolt that seems to go through V at those words and he whispers them again. “We’re here. We’re gonna protect you. You’re not alone. We’re here. You’re not alone. We’re here.” Nero repeats that refrain over and over again because it seems to be what V needs to hear as the other finally makes a soft sound of something that might be pain or fear breaking its way out of his throat as he leans into Nero’s embrace, his face going into Nero’s shoulder and his hand coming up and gripping onto Nero’s coat like he’s afraid if he doesn’t have a tight hold that Nero’s going to leave him. Nero just holds him through it and Kyrie is a genius and Nero should never doubt the power of hugs ever again because it seems to be the magical key to the lock that Nero was afraid was about to keep them out.

Nero waits until V lets go and pushes back gently. He doesn’t seem to be able to look at Nero or Dante, instead apparently finding whatever trash is off to his side much more fascinating than the other two in the alley with him. Nero doesn’t push it; he knows that feeling. That rawness and that unnecessary embarrassment.

“If you won’t be dissuaded.” V says softly. “Then I have a few packages that I need to pick up before the stores close.” He does a small shrug. “I’ve already called ahead; it shouldn’t take long.”

“Okay. Sounds good.” Dante says with a small nod. “Lead the way.” V does a small nod before he takes a deep breath and Nero watches as he squares off his shoulders and walks past them back out towards the street, waving down a taxi and getting in when one pulls up for them. V’s as silent during the ride as he was during the last one, letting Dante and Nero carry the conversation about some ridiculous movie fight that wouldn’t work in real life and looking out the window with an increasingly far away and cut off look growing in his eyes.

He looks down in surprise when Nero puts his hand over his, and Nero acts like he doesn’t see those eyes searching him for motives as he continues his part of the rant and Nero considers it a victory when V doesn’t slide his hand away or push it off, letting it rest there as he returns his gaze back out of the window.

Thankfully Dante waits to make kissing faces until V’s no longer watching and Nero really wishes that he could punch him.

“Good choice.” Dante says later when they’re waiting for V to come out of the weird looking store and standing in line for hotdogs at a nearby cart. “Earlier I mean.”

“Eh, it wasn’t as shocking as saying ‘you’re gonna have to call the police if you really want us gone’.” Nero pokes and Dante chuckles as he hands over some money and takes the food. “…is this Mundus guy really that bad?” Nero asks and Dante’s face gets a pinched sort of look for a second.

“That and more. That and so much more.” Dante admits with a sigh. “V’s not wrong. Of all the enemies we’ll ever face, Mundus will always be the worst. And it seems he has a favorite way of playing around with people.”

“What do you mean?” Nero asks, looking over the options for toppings as Dante holds his out for him.

“He did something like that to Vergil once.” Dante says softly. “Turned him into something else, someone else. Someone who didn’t recognize me at first, someone I didn’t recognize at all either.”

“So, this sick fuck has a pattern?”

“So it would seem.” Dante glances up and lets out a whistle when he sees V step out of the front doors and V glances over at them before coming over. “Hey, what do you like on your hotdogs?” He asks holding up his other hand which is holding his and V’s food. V glances down at the offering like he’s seeing something strange and his eyes go over to all of the topping options and Nero recognizes that look.

“…you _have_ had a hotdog…right?” Nero asks and V gives him a look and Dante makes a wounded noise.

“No pizza, no hotdogs what are you going to say next? No Cup of Noodles?” At the blank look on V’s face at his words Dante acts like he’s just been shot, stumbling a bit and Nero bites out a ‘hey!’ as his dog moves and he almost makes a mess. “Okay then, apparently we’re ending your wiener v-card.” Nero snorts in horror at the statement and V gives Dante an arched eyebrow to which Dante replies with the most _innocent_ look that Nero’s seen, and he’s got two kids constantly trying to get out of trouble, as he holds up the hotdogs as if that answers everything. “So, what kind of wiener do you want?” Dante presses on, clearly dead set on using that term and Nero groans as he takes his food from Dante and takes a bite. “There’s no shame in liking wieners V. See? Nero loves them.”

“Dante, I will _kill_ you.” Nero mutters after he takes a bite and that grin is still present on Dante’s face but the amused twinkle in his eyes tells Nero that he’s having a blast.

“I don’t know.” V admits after a moment.

“We could go simple; you know ketchup and mustard. Maybe some relish. Or – if you’re feeling adventurous and if you’re not afraid of getting a little messy we could go all out.” V glances around for a moment, looking at what the others in the area have on theirs before he opts to go with the simple choice.

If Nero makes a point of _not watching_ as V takes his first bite after all of Dante’s ‘wiener’ ribbing well…that’s for him to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We don't deserve Nero.   
> Or Kyrie, who is the MVP of this chapter.


	18. Chapter 18

Author's Notes: The funniest thing to me right now is how this story has morphed from it's original plan. Once it was only meant to be a 5 to 7 chapter story about Dante learning V's identity and maybe some non-fade-to-black shenanigans...

Me looking at it now: 18 chapters, 60,000 plus words and no end in sight...

* * *

 

Despite the chaos and the ill-advised breakdown earlier, the day continues on relatively well. The three of them go from shop to shop to pick up the things that V will need to test the lines and the atmosphere seems somehow lighter than V would have guessed it would after so many revelations. V’s a little horrified now just how many revelations he let slip earlier in his panicked state. He all but came out and told them that he was Vergil and now a part of him feels like Dante has all of the information to put the puzzle together at his own leisure.

It feels a little like waiting for the guillotine to drop. Just waiting for the moment that lightbulb goes off behind Dante’s eyes…and then that’ll be it. The beginning of the end and the start of everything falling apart. In the end, it won’t matter how ‘pretty’ Dante thinks this form of his is, it won’t stop him from tearing into him. After all, he used to say similar things about Vergil’s ‘too pretty for such a cold bastard’s’ face, and yet he still tried to smash his fist into it every other chance he got. Why does V think he’ll react any differently now?

Although…there is something building deep inside of V that’s starting to question that end result. It’s something that’s been unsettled and bothered by the words being thrown out by Dante in that alleyway. As much as V was careless in his words, the things Dante was saying have made him suddenly uncertain of his footing or even his understanding of certain things.

_“’Doing it alone’ and all that bullshit and all it did was take my brother from me.” “I should have gone with him.” “I should have been at his side.”_

That’s not the reaction, or the interpretation or the thoughts that V would have originally guessed Dante had about their separation and Vergil’s fall from grace. He would have never thought to consider the thought that it ever crossed Dante’s mind to think that he should have followed after Vergil when Vergil descended into the Underworld. In fact, if he’d been asked, he would have said that he figured that Dante might have humored the idea that Vergil had gotten a little bit of what he deserved once or twice.

After all, wasn’t it Dante who always used to throw out how much he wanted to see Vergil knocked down a peg or two? How he’d pay good money to see that? Well he got his wish in the end, hadn’t he? He got to see Vergil torn apart and horribly put back together before he got to run him through. He got his wish and then he walked away – and shed a tear for a demon wearing a long dead woman’s face than for the brother he believed he’d just murdered.

V thinks there’s something in Vergil – something deep inside of himself too – that can’t forgive Dante for that last part. When Dante was all he had to cling to, Dante hadn’t even paused.

Father always said Dante took after their mother, Vergil figured it was never more true than that moment when he killed him and walked away without a second thought.

It’s odd, V has slight recollections of those years full of rage at Dante. The love he once held for his brother turned and corrupted into something dark and wrathful – but he doesn’t really have the feelings that go with it and something tells him that’s because those memories weren’t his to keep. Those memories Vergil kept for himself and saved inside of Urizen.

V can’t imagine how much Urizen might hate Dante. Since he’s not sure if Vergil saved any bit of the love he held for his brother or if he threw it out as a useless weakness when he tore out V.

Despite these thoughts, V can’t help but watch Dante throughout the rest of the day. He can’t help but study the man who was once a strange mirror image of a version of himself and try as he might he still can’t see any resemblance to Vergil.

But for the first time he’s realizing that he doesn’t seem to be able to find any sort of resemblance between the Dante of then and the Dante of now either.

V’s memories of Dante as a young man are scattered and brief. Beautiful, brash, cocksure and impatient in all ways. Prone to action over thought and to speaking with his fists rather than his ever-smirking mouth. That’s what V remembers, but looking at him now – really looking at him is making V realize that Dante’s not that young man anymore. It has him realizing that it might be possible that all of Vergil’s understandings of how to read his brother’s mercurial moods or how to read how he’ll respond to a set of stimuli is outdated because for the first time V’s looking at him and he sees a stranger. He can’t find hide nor hair of that arrogant teenager who needed to constantly pick a fight with everything and anything just to feel something that wasn’t his own pain or loss.

…Can V really say with any form of authority or assurance that he knows anything about how the man sitting across from him will respond to any of this anymore? Nineteen-year-old Dante would be a powder-keg waiting to go off. Full of quick to burn rage and indignation at the mere _thought_ that Vergil was in charge of, using, or controlling him in any way…. But Dante’s not nineteen anymore. He’s not a child anymore. This is his brother, fully grown.

…and he missed it.

He missed all of it because of his own stupid decisions. He wasn’t there to see him grow up and the knowledge of the loss of that is almost like a punch to the gut and it rattles V to his core. He missed it all, and he missed out on his own chance to grow up and learn. He lost it to a tyrant who took advantage of a child’s hubris and fear.

“So, what do you need all of this stuff for anyways?” Nero’s question drags his attention back to the present and past the pain in his chest. He opens his mouth to say something neutral, something that’ll give an answer and yet answer nothing…but yet something stops him. Why do that? To what point? He’s already lying to them enough at this point, isn’t he? Does he really need to keep doing it over every stupid little thing?

“They’ll allow me to discern the state of the ley lines back at the graveyard.” V answers him as Nero looks down inside the bag curiously before he looks up at him with a small amount of surprise. V realizes that Nero asked the question, but he hadn’t really expected an answer. “There’s a good chance that Urizen’s failed ritual damaged them in some way. Maybe even infected them and if they’re damaged in any way and not fixed in a timely manner than a lot of bad things could happen.”

“Bad things?” Nero questions and V nods. “Bad things like what?”

“Plagues, earthquakes, thinned veils between the worlds. There’s a multitude of things that could very quickly go wrong and hurt a lot of people.”

“Wait, are we talking _the_ graveyard?” Nero asks looking at him. “The same graveyard where you ditched us and then ran into Urizen without backup?”

“…one in the same. Although I didn’t realize that it deserved an article to set it apart from all other graveyards.” V replies.

“So you were gonna go back in – alone – to the place where you ran into Urizen once before? When he might know that you would want to come in and fix these lines?” Nero seems to want clarification and V sighs softly.

“I guess I’ll concede that looking at it through that sort of lens does make it sound a little unwise.” V admits and he hears Nero mutter ‘a little?’, “But nevertheless, it needs to be dealt with least anyone be harmed in the fallout. So Urizen or no, I have little choice in the matter.” At his words, Dante lets out a small laugh that he immediately tires to smother and both Nero and V glance in his direction with curious looks.

“What was that?” Nero asks with a small snort and Dante tries to wave it off.

“Nothing, nothing. Don’t mind me.” Dante says, but there’s an amused tone to his voice, a look in his eye and his lips are curled up slightly at whatever it is he’s finding humorous in this whole situation.

“What is it?” V finds himself pressing out of curiosity and Dante stretches a bit before he shrugs.

“Oh, nothing really, Mr. ‘Don’t Paint Me As A Good Guy Because I Only Do Things For Myself’.” Dante says with a grin and he winks in V’s direction causing V to look away from him with some kind of feeling that might be embarrassment or something like it in his chest.

“It’s not that.” V feels the need to argue. “I just…see no reason not to intervene in something that could potentially backfire against me in the future.” Dante lets out a huff and shakes his head at V’s words.

“You know, the world isn’t going to end if you let yourself admit that you’re not actually as terrible of a person as you seem to think you are.” Dante says and he leans close to him and nudges his arm with his. “You could just admit that you care. It’s not a bad thing V.”

“Of course it is.” V can’t help but let slip through and he gets two surprised looks and he wishes he could take it back.

“How could caring be a bad thing?” Nero asks and V sighs after a moment.

“There’s no benefit in letting it be known how much you care.” V says, looking away from them. “For people like us especially. Caring about others tends to play out badly for them. Even more so if any enemy learns just _how much_ you care.” He shakes his head. “It’s better to just not care at all, trust me. And if you do, don’t ever let anyone know.”

“ _V_.” Dante says and it sounds soft and pained and it makes V look back at them. They both look like V’s just killed their puppy or something.

“If I’ve upset you, I apologize.” V says to them. “It wasn’t my intention.”

“No, it’s not that.” Dante says with a shake of his head. “It’s just…that’s fucking sad V. That’s a terrible way to look at life. You shouldn’t keep yourself separate from the world and the ones you care about because you’re scared of how someone might use that care against you.” Those words sit between them for a few moments before V has to look away again and he reaches out and takes the bag away from Nero and checks it over just to have something to do.

“We have everything we need at this point.” V says, refusing to look at either of them. “We should head over to the graveyard posthaste.” He steps out and waves down a taxi, slipping inside quickly and falling into the silence that he usually does in this atmosphere. He remains silent until they arrive at their destination and step out. “I would request that you wait here.” V says when they stop at the entrance to the mausoleum and he doesn’t look at Dante when he says it. “If Nero wishes to join me down there, I suppose I see little harm in that but it would be best to have as few people down there as possible for what I need to do.”

“And are you dead set on me being the one who has to stay back, or can I go down there with you and Nero stays as lookout?” Dante asks and there’s a slight challenge of awareness that V wishes he didn’t have in his eyes. He’s calling out V without fully calling him out and they both know it.

“I would request that it be you.” V admits after a pause.

“Can I ask why?”

“You can ask.”

“Are you gonna tell me?”

“No.” V answers and Dante looks like he was expecting it.

“Yeah, figured. Okay, go on. Go do what you have to do. Nero, keep an eye on the marshmallow.”

“Excuse me?” V sputters at the designation and Dante just grins at him.

“I said what I said.” He says cheekily before he heads over to a nearby stone bench and lies down on it, closing his eyes and giving them a thumbs up. “I’ll be here when you come back.”

“…thank you, Dante.” V says after he figures fighting Dante on the whole ‘marshmallow’ thing will only result in more of the same, and Dante cracks an eye open to look at him.

“I don’t get why you need it, but if your requirement for letting us come is that sometimes I’ve gotta sit on the sidelines and let you and Nero handle things then I’ll take it.” He leans back and closes his eye again. “You kids have fun.”

“Whatever old man. Don’t forget to drink your Metamucil before we get back.” Nero throws out and Dante snorts as Nero takes the bag back from V and heads into the mausoleum first. It’s only so long before V hears him complain about the horrible state of the stairs. “Fuck these are some bullshit stairs. Watch your step V.” V doesn’t say how he’s already been up and down these once before recently and he just follows behind him at a steady pace.

It is odd to be back in the room where he saw his other half and Malphas standing not too long ago. He can’t help but lean on his cane for a second and remember the panic that went through him before he spurred himself into action.

 _“Shit_.” Nero’s voice says next to him and V glances at him to see him looking down at the ritual area. “What the fuck happened here?” It takes V a moment to realize that he’s referring to the dead bodies of the sacrifices left behind to decay and rot. He takes in the scene how he figures Nero is, with its dead bodies and blood everywhere and he figures that it might be startling.

“Demonic ritual.” V answers him. “Unfortunately, they all tend to look something like this in the end.”

“That’s bullshit.” Nero hisses and V inclines his head slightly.

“We’ll make sure their bodies are properly disposed of.” V says and Nero gives him a look. “To make sure that something doesn’t possess it again. A kindness if you will.” He holds out his hand for the bag and Nero hands it over before the two of them head down to the main altar. V does notice how Nero seems to keep watching the bodies like he’s afraid they’re gonna get up and attack them after what V said and to be fair, having such a thing happen at this point wouldn’t really surprise V. It would be amusing to watch Nero’s reaction, but not really all that surprising.

“So what are you trying to do here exactly?” Nero asks, coming up to him and looking over V’s shoulder as V starts to lay out the necessary items.

“I’m trying to determine how much damage Urizen’s ritual has done.” V replies. “If it’s not bad, we can attempt to deal with it now. If it is however, we’ll be able to discern what we’ll need.”

“So, all that crap you mentioned before. How long do we have before that starts happening?”

“Depends on how bad the lines are.” V says. “Consider them like, foundational pillars in a basement. You can take out one or two and maybe everything will be fine, but sometimes that’s all it takes before everything starts crashing down. The lines are a lot like that.” He starts pouring out the mixture in a glass bottle into a rune shape.

“Where did you learn all this?” Nero asks and V shrugs.

“There’s very little that can’t be found and learned if one is willing to look hard enough.” He replies. “I myself spent many years in my childhood learning the craft. I’ll admit that it’s been a while since I’ve used it, but like they say ‘it’s like riding a bicycle’.” He finishes up the circle and adds a small drop of his blood to it. Nero doesn’t know what that means, to mix the two but V doesn’t doubt that Dante would.

Like calling to like, to figure out what’d been done.

V closes his eyes as he starts to pull the spell into full existence.

“What-” Nero starts to say and V cuts him off gently.

“I do need to concentrate for this part, Nero.” Nero quickly falls quiet even though V can practically feel his curious stare as he settles into the spell. He feels out the spiderweb like cracks in the room, the remnants of the ritual that tried to take place before and he follows it back to the lines to see the potential damage that he’ll need to work with.

The answer he gets back is most certainly not what he was expecting…they’re _fine_.

“What’s wrong?” Nero asks and V opens his eyes to give the altar a confused look.

“I’m…not sure.” V says slowly. “Perhaps I missed something. A part of the spell or something that didn’t fully activate.” He checks his rune work. No, it looks perfect, but that can’t be right. He closes his eyes again and pushes into the spell once more just to be sure.

He gets the same answer a second time and it feels like it mocks him.

“How bad is it?” Nero asks when V opens his eyes again.

“…they’re fine.” V says carefully, not sounding all that convinced himself. “They’re perfectly fine…that doesn’t make sense.”

“Why not?”

“Because that means…” V looks around the area. “That means that Urizen took the time to be careful. That he made Malphas be careful.”

“Is that a bad thing? And who the hell is Malphas?”

“An upper level demon who was helping him.” V answers him. “She seems to be some kind of demonic sorceress with teleportation powers. It’s how they got out of here without crossing either of you last time.” V takes a moment. “And it’s not a ‘bad thing’ per se…it’s just…not what I was expecting.”

“What were you expecting?”

“An almost cultivated lack of care.” V replies to that. “Urizen doesn’t care about the humans. I know this for a fact…so why isn’t this place falling apart?”

“How well do you actually know this guy?” Nero asks and V does a soft huffing sort of sound.

“Earlier I would have told you ‘well enough’, now though? Now I’m not sure I understand his motivations or reasonings at all.” V looks around again. “No, no none of this makes sense. There’s no reason for him to have done this, absolutely _none_. So why? Why waste his time? Why bother? To what end?”

“So this guy took his time, so what’s the big deal?”

“That in and of itself _is_ a big deal, Nero.” V corrects him slightly. “It implies concern.”

“Concern?”

“Concern for the humans.” V says. “I didn’t…he’s never been concerned for them before. He _hates_ humanity. Why would he…” The realization that V doesn’t have any answers is unsettling. It’s like each time he crosses the other he throws him for a loop. He keeps letting him go – to what end? He must have forced Malphas to protect the lines which means a large portion of his focus, strength and control would have gone towards maintaining them during the spell. Why? Why waste power over that? It’s _not_ _making_ _sense_. “Let’s handle the bodies and purify what is left just to be safe.” V says after a moment.

Dante’s still napping on the bench when they return and V figures that he should be pleased that at least _that_ is playing out the way he expected it to.

“You all finished? That was fast.” Dante says as he sits up and Nero nods.

“Yeah, turns out there was nothing to do.” Nero says with a shrug and Dante gets a momentary taken-aback, confused look. V feels that on a personal level.

“You sure?” He asks and V just lets his own confusion show on his face as he nods and shrugs helplessly. “Odd. Okay, good to know that he can clean up after himself. Where to now ringleader?”

“Back to the apartment.”

“I’m all for that.” Dante nods as he stands and they make their way back to the apartment compound. V sighs when they make it back and enter the lobby. He feels a little unsettled. He’s just not able to read anyone’s motivations right now, is he? He walks up to the front desk with a tired sigh.

“Hello. I wanted to put in an order for three new elevator fobs.” V says and she nods, typing in the request and V puts in all of his security stuff.

“They’ll be ready for you by tomorrow.”

“Thank you.” V says and he goes to turn around when she stops him.

“Oh, there was a letter that got dropped off a little while ago for your room.” She grabs an envelope on the counter and hands it to him. He takes it with a small frown. It’s clearly for him, it has a V written on the front but he can’t think of anyone who would send him such a thing.

“Thank you again.” V says slowly as he takes it, going over to the elevator where the other two are waiting and getting in.

“What’s that?” Dante asks, trying to see it and V puts his back up against the wall as he opens it.

“I don’t know yet Dante, I haven’t read it yet.” He says as he pulls out the letter and unfolds it. The first line written in a shaky – and probably terrified – scrawl makes the air leave his lungs.

**_Brother._ **

Urizen.

 


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Here's the next chapter for you all! I'm catching up on the replies to the comments from last chapter so if I haven't gotten to yours yet please know that it will be soon! 
> 
> Please enjoy! Can't wait to hear your reactions!

If there’s one thing Nero does feel like he has to admit it’s this: it’s almost impressive to see just how quickly V goes from being mildly relaxed against the back wall of the elevator to completely closed off to them in a matter of seconds.

Sure, there’s been an underlying tension in him since the alleyway and in how he keeps looking at Dante with a look that seems both lost and pained for some reason that Nero can’t figure out. Although Nero figures he’s not surprised that tensions there, after all V’s a pretty private guy who likes to play and keep things close to the chest. He’s like a tiny dragon protecting a horde of treasures and secrets – but down in that alleyway he was stripped of all of that and laid bare in a way he clearly didn’t want to be.

Nero doesn’t doubt it chafes and he was surprised when V responded in a way he hadn’t expected him to afterwards with the small steps towards letting them in finally and actually telling them what was going on, but that’s gone now. Whatever that letter is, whatever it says it must be a doozy because V’s eyes widen in surprise and a small amount of panic before his fingers immediately flip it closed again before Dante or Nero can even think to lean and see what it might say.

Not that either of them would. They’re not _that_ monumentally stupid. It’d be the quickest way to ruin whatever goodwill and trust they’ve built up since the alley and the graveyard. But Nero doesn’t like watching V take a giant step back from them after taking a tiny one towards them earlier. Nero feels like he can read the writing on the wall as if it were written in giant neon fucking lights and he doesn’t bother to open his mouth and question about the letter because he knows he won’t get an answer and it’ll probably do more harm than anything because V will close off and undoubtedly lie to them about it.

He’d rather get no answer than a lie. Even if it’s a lie meant to make them feel like everything is fine. But whatever it was that had V opening up to them so tentatively earlier and actually answering his questions when he asked isn’t at play here, or at least not in reference to whatever it is in his hands and he knows it. It’s clear Dante does too because the other man makes no comment or push for information either.

The letter has changed something. The question is what, but they’re not going to get an answer to that yet.

V doesn’t stop to talk to them the second that the doors open into the apartment. He practically takes off towards the office without a word, closing the doors gently behind him and the small latch of the lock is strangely loud in the area. It seems symbolic in some way. V’s still very much behind a locked door despite everything and Nero runs his hand through his hair.

“Don’t worry about it yet.” Dante says as he shrugs off his coat and hangs it up. “If he starts trying to sneak off again or starts acting shifty, we’ll deal with it then.” Dante gives him a look. “Let him come to us. It’s the only way this is going to work.”

“Yeah, fuck I know that.” Nero says as he looks at the door. “I just thought… I just thought that we’d…” He doesn’t know how to finish that sentence fully, but thankfully Dante seems to understand what he’s saying anyways.

“We did, but it doesn’t work like that.” He says with a small shake of his head. “It’s not just one conversation or break through and then everything works the way you want. It’s a lot of back and forth. Trust me, I know a thing or two about it.” Dante takes a moment before he sighs. “Besides, I was thinking about something…and we need to talk.”

“You? Thinking?” Nero can’t help but rib lightly and Dante’s answering smirk isn’t as snarky as Nero’s used to it being when he pokes at him. Something’s off. Crap, can’t they just get a break here? “What is it?”

“I was just thinking when you were down with V in the graveyard.” Dante admits. “About things…about…secrets.”

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“Yeah. Like I said, we gotta talk.” Dante makes his way over to the couches and motions for Nero to take a seat.

“I’ll stand.”

“Please.” Dante asks and he sounds so tired and Nero stares at him in surprise before he comes over and takes a seat. “There are things you need to know, if you’re going to be staying and if you’re going to be involved in all of this.” Dante gives him a kind of shaky smile. “Any way I can convince you to go back home?”

“Not on your life.”

“Didn’t think so.” Dante huffs out in a soft laugh. “Fuck.” He takes a deep breath before letting it out in a heavy sounding sigh. “I almost want to try and ask V if he has alcohol in this place. This seems like the kind of conversation that alcohol is necessary for.”

“Dante…if you don’t want to talk about it you don’t have-” Nero starts to say and Dante holds up his hand and shakes his head.

“No, don’t do that Nero. Don’t give me a way out.” He says before he shakes his head. “No, no this conversation is years late.” He admits with a small cringe. “We should have had it a long time ago…there are things I should have told you sooner but I just…” Dante makes a kind of helpless motion with his hands. “Couldn’t. I don’t really have a good excuse for it. I mean, I wish I did but I’m not going to fuck around the bush and pretend that I do…it’s just…” He cuts off and he can’t seem to look at Nero. “If he’s here, and if you’re going to be potentially interacting with him then this is shit you need to know.”

“Is this about your brother?” Nero asks and Dante takes a moment before he nods.

“Yeah, this is about Vergil…” He looks at Nero. “But it’s also about you too.”

“Me?”

“Yeah kid.” Dante says. “To be honest I think to a point you already know what I’m about to tell you.” Dante shrugs. “Or hell, maybe you really don’t. I think it should be obvious but sometimes things that seem like they should be obvious aren’t as noticeable when you don’t want to look at it.”

“Okay?”

“I just…I want you to know that I didn’t not tell you because I didn’t think you couldn’t handle it or anything. I just…I didn’t want to bring up the dead for no good reason. It didn’t feel like it held any bearing on your life and I guess I was protecting myself. I didn’t want to have to answer any of the questions that you’d undoubtedly have.” Dante looks down at his hands for a few moments and Nero just waits. He feels like this is one of those times when patience is necessary. “I had a suspicion the first time I saw you, but I didn’t know for certain.” Dante starts before he looks back up at him. “And then I saw how the Yamato reacted to you…and I knew.”

“Knew what?”

“That Vergil…that he was your father.”

\----------

Griffon and Shadow manifest almost immediately the second that the doors close, feeling his tenseness and his agitation as he steps further into the room and unfolds the letter again.

“So he’s sending letters now?” Griffon asks, sounding disbelieving and V sighs with a small nod.

“So it would seem.” He holds it up. “There’s a letter.”

“That’s not a letter Shakespeare.” Griffon snaps. “That’s a fucking taunt. He’s letting you know he knows where you are. That he’s always known.” Griffon’s not wrong, V can’t help but think as he starts pacing. Urizen hasn’t seemed to suffer from the same uncertainty when it comes to predicting his other half’s actions and choices. The only thing that V seems to know for certain is that Urizen is bringing forth a Qliphoth.

Urizen however seemed to have guessed that V would go to Dante as he had not been surprised in the slightest when Dante’s presence at the graveyard had been revealed. He’d also called V out on his white lies, or his silence when it came to telling Dante the truth about who they really were. The two halves of Vergil. Now he’s showing that he knows where V lays his head down at night.

V looks down at the words written out on the page and he can’t help but wonder what happened to the unfortunate scribe. Were they the ones who were able to deliver the letter? Was that a second person and the first killed? V has no clue and that irritates him because it seems to be a condition that only he’s suffering from. A lack of knowledge. A dangerous affliction to be sure.

He paces as his eyes start to take in the words, like a caged animal being backed into a corner on all sides. He supposes that’s not a poor description for him right now. He feels like he’s getting backed into a corner by multiple parties. If it’s not Urizen, it’s Mundus. If not him then it’s Dante and all the words that he hasn’t been truthful with.

 _Brother_ ,

That title again. V wonders if Urizen chuckles at it, if it’s some joke that he’s entertaining himself with when he’s bored.

_I’ve been informed that you’ve been going by ‘V’ in this time. What an unoriginal and uninspired choice to go by._

‘You didn’t name yourself at all, so you get no comment on it’ V can’t help but think as he reads.

_Although I suppose that choosing new aliases for ourselves has never been a particular strong point for us._

‘Gilver’ The name pops up in his head and V can’t help the small amount of embarrassed amusement at it, but that sobers up instantly…but he supposes that Urizen isn’t wrong. He’ll give him that.

_There is much to discuss, but now is not yet the time. Soon, but not yet._

What is there to discuss? What could there possibly be for them to hash out between each other?

_This letter comes to you as a warning. Mundus has awoken and there are whispers that he seeks for you. We both know why this would be true._

Yes, yes they do.

_If you were not with Dante I would demand that you return to my side; but as long as he is with you, you may be free to continue your ill-advised and unwise crusade against me._

Ill-advised and unwise? Demand that V ‘return to his side’? V’s never _been_ at his side, what is he talking about? What game is he playing? Warning V about Mundus? Why? To keep Mundus from getting something he wants? That seems likely, but what is the point of this letter? To unsettle him? To threaten him? To confuse him more about Urizen’s motives?

_Practice caution. Until I am finished with what I must do we are all vulnerable. Mundus will not hesitate to exploit any sign of weakness, this we both know._

The sentiment is an odd one, and an old one at the same time and V frowns. It’s a sentiment that Vergil had once, standing atop a tower that should have never been risen from its resting place. A concern that until the power that he sought was his that their enemies still had a chance to put their teeth at their throats.

V can’t help but see a small similarity here. Vergil had once sent a kind of letter to Dante during that time, before he tried to make Dante understand without giving him anything to understand…but now Urizen was sending one to him? ‘We are all vulnerable’, who was ‘we’? Dante, V and Urizen? V and Urizen? Who?

_I hear you have given me a name. It is whispered already by demons in fear and it has reached my ears. Urizen. How entertaining, but acceptable. And as you have named me, let me repay the favor – Vitale. Is that not so much better?_

Vitale? From the Latin word meaning vital, crucial and _alive_.

Something inside V rebels against the name in a kind of kneejerk reaction. Urizen is mocking him and he knows it. Vergil has never thought any of those definitions when it came to the human half of himself and there’s no way that V’s going to believe that the pure demonic half of him does either.

Vitale. V tests the name over in his mind again before he sighs. Very well Urizen, fair is fair after all.

The letter ends with an assurance that more will be forthcoming if there is a need for them and V slowly folds it back up, slipping it back into the envelope that it came in. Griffon watches him as he paces his way back to the safe and opens it, placing the letter away next to the picture that none can see and he closes it.

 


	20. Chapter 20

After Dante’s finally said his piece, there’s dead silence from the other man in the area; and if anything, the silence is worse than any other immediate reaction. Silence is an unknown. Silence is suffocating and like an invisible weight that just crushes anyone unfortunate enough to be underneath it. Dante’s always hated silence in moments like this.

He wonders how long the silence is going to last before Nero finally breaks it. The question is how is he going to do so? Is he going to do it by decking Dante? Dante wouldn’t stop him or defend himself from it. Is he going to freak out and start yelling at him for keeping this secret – this secret that Dante had no real right to keep from him for so long? Dante wouldn’t argue with him. He’d let Nero spit out whatever vitriol he wanted to at him in the hopes that once it all got out they’d be able to find a way to move past this.

There was a horrifying moment in the graveyard that Dante’s had weighing down on him since the thought first crossed his mind. A thought that Dante’s actually mortified didn’t cross his mind before. What if this information is too much for Nero to handle? What if this is the thing that breaks the camel’s back? What if Nero can handle learning that Vergil is his father but that learning that Dante is his _uncle_ is just too far in what Nero can accept in their demon-tainted, fucked up existences? What if Dante being his uncle means that Nero wouldn’t have embarked on a relationship with him if he had known? If Dante had been honest and upfront with him like he should have been?

Dante can honestly say that the thought hadn’t crossed his mind in the slightest before the cemetery. After all, familial connections hadn’t ever meant anything to Dante before. It certainly hadn’t meant anything back when he was banging his brother – his _twin_ brother – so why would banging his nephew raise up any red flags that told Dante that he needed to be concerned about this situation or be freaked out over it?

But that’s _Dante_. What if Nero would have felt differently? What if Dante kept quiet about something that would have made it to where Nero would have turned him away and turned him down if he had known it? What if Dante had taken that choice away from him in his casual negligence and now Nero had to live with the consequences of it?

The thought that he’s mis-stepped and done something irrevocably wrong and cruel to Nero makes him sick to his stomach. The thought that his need to hold everything about Vergil close to the chest and deep down in the dark parts of himself that he avoided sharing with the world has potentially hurt someone he cares about – has hurt Nero….it was _never_ his intention.

But the road to hell is paved with good intentions, right bro? Haven’t either of them learned this yet?

Fuck. He’s fucked up. He’s fucked up royally. _Shit._

It takes him a moment before he’s finally able to gather up enough courage to look up at Nero’s face. To try and track it as Nero prepares to pass whatever judgement he sees fit on Dante for this. That’s when he realizes that the worst part of all of this isn’t the sickening fear or the silence – it’s the fact that Nero’s face is unreadable in a way that it never is. There’s no rage, no disgust, nothing but a kind of calm neutrality.

It’s too much like Vergil.

Too much like how he used to look at Dante. Thoughtful and reading so much deeper into everything than Dante ever felt he was able to match. It’s weird to see it on Nero’s face when the kid’s always seemed to take more after Dante with his rash temper and outspoken outbursts than his father’s cool detachment.

Nero takes a moment longer, before he sighs slightly and does a small kind of shrug with his bad shoulder.

“Yeah. Kinda figured that out for myself thanks.” Nero says and Dante feels like all of the air leaves his lungs and he feels shaky after those words leave the others lips.

“What?” He croaks out and Nero arches an eyebrow at him, an annoyed look finally reaching his face.

“Seriously? He snaps a little. “Just how dumb do you think I am Dante?”

“What?” Dante frowns, thrown a little by the question. “When have I ever-” He starts to argue before he just shakes his head. “I don’t think you’re dumb Nero. A punk, sure. Dumb? _Never_.”

“You must.” Nero says with a scoff as he leans back on the couch, tossing his arm over the back with a roll of his eyes. “’It has to stay in the family’.” He says and Dante frowns. “That’s what you said. Back in Fortuna when you came for the Yamato. Then you turned around and let me keep it. Sure, I’ll admit that I didn’t think anything of it at that point. Not really, I mean why would I? But then Sanctus was spouting that shit about me being another of Sparda’s bloodline.” Nero gives him a look. “You told me once that Sparda only ever had two kids. You and your brother. The brother you never liked to talk about and I never really saw a need to bring up.”

“You knew this whole time?”

“I guessed.” Nero nods.

“…you never once thought that I might be your old man?” Dante asks and his voice sounds far too soft and Nero shakes his head.

“Nah. I feel like you would have responded to me differently.” Nero says with another shrug. “I mean sure, I thought about it once; but I figured it couldn’t be pretty quickly.”

“Why? Fifty fifty chance.”

“Not really.” Nero says.

“Why not?”

“Yamato.” Nero replies. “You let me keep it and it felt like you were handing off a torch. Passing it on I guess. Felt like you were handing it off to me in his place if that makes sense.”

“It does.” Dante admits. “Sorta what happened. I mean, the sword was his…it felt like it should be yours in his death. Like it belonged to you.”

“Yeah, that’s what I figured.” Nero says with a small nod. “It made the sword special? Cuz it felt like it was the only thing of a father I never knew. Like a family heirloom. Or at least that was how I felt about it.”

“To a point it was.” Dante says with a small nod of his own. “So we’re…okay?”

“In what way?”

“In all ways?”

“Yeah.” Nero says easily and Dante lets out a shaky breath. “You were really that worried about telling me about him? Why?”

“It wasn’t really all about him.” Dante admits and at the look Nero gives him to continue he sighs. “We’re fucking.” He says bluntly. “I’m your uncle. It just hit me that you might object to that on moral grounds or something.”

“We’re not exactly normal.” Nero replies to that. “And yeah, I’ll admit that I had to deal with that way back when, back when all of this was new and starting down the ‘fucking’ path…but in the end I decided fuck it, and fuck anyone who wants to say anything about it. We’re not human, we’re adults, it’s not hurting anyone and they can kiss my ass.” Nero says his piece before he pauses and gives Dante a look. “Wait, it _just_ hit you?” Dante cringes slightly. “Seriously? I had a whole freak out about it years ago with all the creepy incest bullshit attached to it and you never even flinched?”

“…wasn’t exactly my first time riding in that rodeo.” Dante admits softly and Nero looks amusedly confused for a few moments, clearly not understanding what Dante’s just told him right away before his eyes go wide and he drops his arm and leans forward with a curious look. At least it’s not disgusted, Dante figures he can work with that.

“No shit? Fuck seriously? You and him?” Nero asks and Dante sighs and looks away from him before he gives a curt nod. “Fuck.” Nero mutters again. “Wait – hold the phone. Am I just some kind of…replacement Vergil to you?”

“Never once kid.” Dante says easily, looking back at him. “Never once. You’re too different even if I wanted to try. Which I never did. He was him, you’re you. I never saw you as him. It would have been impossible and as selfish as it’s going to sound – I couldn’t do that to myself or to his memory.” Dante pauses as he thinks about how to say what he thought in those early days and he sees that calculating look back on Nero’s face as he’s clearly determining Dante’s sincerity. “Once upon a time I saw you as something of his that I’d gotten my hands on. Like the Yamato. Sure, I’ll admit to that. It’s probably fucked up but there it is. I wanted to protect you, his kid in the way that I’d failed to protect him, but I _never_ compared the two of you together and I never saw you as a replacement for him.” Dante looks him in the eyes and lets him see the unvarnished truth in his words. “And it had no bearings on anything that came after. Never once. You’ve always been Nero to me. Not Vergil, never Vergil. Always Nero. I promise.” Nero seems to accept his statement as he leans back slightly.

“Okay then.” Nero says. “Is that all you had to tell me then? That he’s my old man?”

“That’s all I can think of.” Dante replies.

“No other siblings? What about my mother? Know anything about that?”

“Nah. Honestly I wouldn’t have ever figured that Vergil would go knock up someone – let alone a human with how he felt about his own humanity, so unfortunately I’ve got no answers for you on that.”

“How he felt about his humanity?” Nero questions and Dante sighs.

“He had a complicated relationship with being a half-breed some days.” Dante says. “He…he got worse as time went on. Couldn’t see anything redeemable in humans. Sneered at their very existence. Didn’t really care how many he killed to get his goals accomplished.”

“…sounds a little like a bastard.” Nero says carefully and Dante snorts.

“Yeah, he could be that. A lot.” Dante admits and there’s far too much fondness in his words. “He was brilliant though. So fucking smart and such a smooth fucking talker when he wanted to be. Could talk anyone into seeing things his way if he really put his mind to it.”

“Never worked on you though?”

“He never used it on me.” Dante admits. “He thought it was beneath the both of us. To manipulate each other in such a ‘pedestrian way’.” The laugh Dante gives that time hurts as he remembers Vergil saying those words with the small scrunch of his nose like even the mere thought was upsetting to him. “No, I think he tried to be as clear as he could be with me. He just wasn’t very good at it. Or who knows, maybe I just wasn’t good at listening. Maybe it was both.” Dante sighs. “But who knows. I never really knew or understood anything he was doing back then.” He admits. “He was like a ghost that haunted me in the worst of ways. Real enough to touch when he deigned to grace me with his presence and then gone a second later like he’d never been there in the first place.” Dante shakes his head. “Sometimes there would be days when I wasn’t even sure if he’d really come by or if it’d all been in my head. We just went round and round like that for a while….then it all changed.”

“Changed?” Nero repeats and Dante runs a hand through his hair.

“It was my fault. I’d been being stupid.” Dante can admit this easily now, with the benefit of time and hindsight. “And reckless and I’d led some demons back to where I was staying. I’d dealt with it, but it hadn’t been easy and they trashed my place…Vergil just happened to come by that night.” Dante thinks back. He’d been _laughing_ when Vergil had come by. Laughing and drunk when Vergil’s first steps into the apartment had seemed less graceful than Vergil ever moved. Laughing and drunk and _celebrating_ when he’d waved at him, bleeding on the floor and told Vergil that he’d been attacked.  

He remembers being annoyed that Vergil hadn’t found it as amusing and amazing as he had. He’d won. Those fuckers had come and Dante had kicked their asses back to hell.

He doesn’t remember Vergil saying anything. He just looked at him with suddenly unreadable eyes – had there been fear there prior to that moment? Dante’s not sure he remembers that right all things considering – and then he turned and left and Dante hadn’t seen or heard anything from him until Arkham showed up some time later. But back then Dante had been too angry with the knowledge that Vergil had just up and disappeared on him again, that he had just left with no warning and no contact and so Dante hadn’t even tried to understand whatever the Temen-Ni-Gru had been or just take a moment to try and talk with something other than his fists and in the end they both suffered for it.

“He left. Came back and started doing some bullshit with the old man’s seals. Determined to either destroy or take over the Underworld, never really knew which one he actually wanted. I don’t think I asked. We fought as we often did and then he…” Dante’s voice cuts off for a moment and he has to clear it. “He _fell_.” It comes out too soft. “He fell and I didn’t follow. I should have, but I didn’t and Mundus found him… _alone_. Alone when he shouldn’t have been.” Dante shakes his head. “That was the last time I saw him though for almost ten years. By then Mundus had gotten ahold of him for who knows how long and did who knows what to him but when we crossed paths again they were calling him Nelo Angelo.”

“Nelo Angelo?” Nero says, jumping on that. Makes sense, it’s a small part of the story that Trish and Dante’s previous conversations let Nero in on that information. “You and Trish mentioned something about that.” Nero thinks about it. Clearly remembering. “You said that he wouldn’t be the only one pissed off if you saw any Nelo Angelo’s?”

“Yeah.” Dante says with a small nod. “Fuck Mundus and his Nelo Angelo bullshit. Vergil’s free from that and I’ll kill anything that tries to put him back inside that shell. Just the act of sending something that looks even remotely like Nelo Angelo is Mundus fucking with Vergil and yeah, that bastard can choke on my sword because that’s what’s gonna happen if I see one of those fuckers.” Nero gets a look like he’s thinking about something.

“Do you really think you could talk him out of this? This Qliphoth or whatever it’s called?”

“I don’t know.” Dante admits. “If I’m being honest with myself…probably not. It’s beyond personal at this point.”

“But you want to try?”

“Yeah.” Dante admits with a small nod. “I’ve had to kill my brother once before…I…I can’t do that again.” There’s a moment where his eyes water and Dante looks down. “I’ll do it. Of course I will. If he forces my hand…I’ll do what has to be done….but I can’t…I _can’t_.”

“Fuck.” Nero mutters softly as he gets up and comes over, just sitting next to Dante as a kind of comforting presence. “Okay, fuck. New plan then. None of that bullshit.”

“What?” Dante glances up.

“New plan. No one is dying. We’ll stop him somehow. We’ll take him down…but V can suck it because we’re not gonna kill him.”

“It’s not that simple kid.”

“Maybe it is.” Nero throws back at him. “Maybe it is. Isn’t it worth it to try?” Nero nudges him with his shoulder. “I’ve got your back. You want to bring him home, kicking and screaming? Then that’s what we’re gonna do. Fuck what anyone else says or wants. That’s what we do.” Nero looks him in the eyes. "We bring him home." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this happened because it doesn't make ANY SENSE to me that Nero has no clue he's a Sparda. Like that's just a new level of blind/stupid that I just can't accept.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TGIF!!! Here's the next chapter!

V’s not sure how long he remains in the office after he’s finished reading the letter. He’s not sure how long Dante and Nero have waited for him to emerge from his seclusion and to return to them with whatever information he choses to give them. He knows that he moved over to the window after finishing the missive written by Urizen, and he’s been looking out over the city in quiet contemplation. He knows that the city lights have come on and the streets have emptied as the humans return to their homes and their beds, but the exact timeframe of how long that is eludes him.

The letter is still in his hands, resting up against his leg and he can hear the words written on it in Urizen’s voice like a bad dream. He’s been musing over his situation in light of it, and over the position that he’s been put in by the actions of others and the situation that he’s arrived at by actions of his own. He’s been trying to settle with them and determine what it all means and what he’s going to do about it going forward.

Because going forward is all he has now. The past is not his and it cannot be changed. There is only what comes next and that’s what he’s been going over. He’s been feeling like an open wound, like an exposed nerve since he was created and it’s only gotten worse as the days have passed and he’s been forced to start to come to terms with his own existence and his own precarious position in the world. There’s a feeling like so much is weighing on him. A weight that crushes him and that is made of the sins that he both committed and yet had nothing to do with at the same time that he still feels a staggering level of responsibility for, and enemies lurking in the shadows that he no longer has the power to withstand.

He’s been afraid. So afraid and a slave to unsettled emotions that have torn at him left and right and he doesn’t like it. This isn’t who he is. He might not know much but he knows _that_. This pathetic thing that panics at words and cowers in alleyways and cries at the softest of touches. It’s not him. He refuses to allow it to be.

There’s a kind of calm that comes with that determination. A calm that V has sorely missed and that he hasn’t felt in a long time, if he ever actually did and isn’t just remembering echoes of a life lived prior to this one.

He needs a plan. Plans are what keeps the panic at bay and the feeling of suffocating under the horror that he’s endured. It keeps his mind distracted and busy and he needs a plan now more than ever. With enemies like Mundus and Urizen, he needs a plan. He taps his fingers against the letter.

_You may be free to continue your ill-advised and unwise crusade against me._

The words mock him from the page even as he’s not looking at it. They reveal something about the writer that irks V to no end. Of course V knew that Urizen didn’t take him seriously, that much had been made painfully evident by how he’d responded in the cemetery when faced with his other half. But this? This… _patronizing_ thing? This head pat that Urizen was giving him was a new level of low that V hadn’t fully realized Urizen had placed him down on. It was like Urizen was laughing at all of V’s plans and his struggles and efforts and like he was holding out a little gold star to give V at the end of the day.

V sighs softly as his eyes track the horizon. Mundus must feel a similar way, seeing the only complication to his plan as Dante’s current proximity to V, but for some reason it burns less that the demon king underestimates a human than one half of the whole doing it as well.

V turns and goes over to the desk, pulling out a piece of paper and a pen before he starts to write.

 _Brother._ He writes, starting out the letter with the same level of deference that Urizen has used.

 _I thank you for the warning in regards to Mundus’s return and subsequent designs upon my person. Unfortunately, I had already been made aware of this threat prior to receiving your letter; but it was intriguing to receive something from you on the subject. I had not expected to receive any form of correspondence from you, as you can imagine considering our current conflicting goals._ V takes a moment to think about what to put past that.

_Vitale is an interesting choice for a new name, and I will admit that your decision to go with it above all other options surprises me. I have accepted it as my own though, as you have accepted my offering to you. As you said, it seems only fair._

_I did appreciate the gracious offer you extended to me to continue my ‘crusade’ as it were. I suppose I should thank you for that permission as well. Truly you are a beacon of goodwill and self-restraint in these dark times._

_Until we next meet fraterculus._

_Your humble servant_

_Vitale_

V signs the name with a decorative flourish and he hates it a little that it already feels closer to him than Vergil does. He does wonder if Urizen felt something similar the first time he heard someone whisper the name that V had graced him with. He puts the letter in an envelope, sealing it with one of Vergil’s old V wax seals and putting a U on the front before he holds it out to Griffon who has been just watching him silently from the edge of the desk this whole time.

“You want me to take this to him?” Griffon asks, looking at the letter and his voice sounds almost mystified.

“I do.” V agrees. “Common curtesy requires a return response after all. I would hate to be rude.” Griffon snorts in disbelief.

“Yeah, whatever Shakespeare. One little problem to your plan though.” Griffon makes a kind of shrugging motion. “How am I supposed to deliver it? It’s not like we know where he’s lying his head down unlike how he obviously knows where we are.”

“Simple. We leave it in the one place where I know he’ll either see it or hear about it.” V says with a level of certainty in his voice.

“And where is that?”

“We leave it where this all began.”

“The house?” Griffon asks surprised. “You really think he’s scoping the place out still?”

“I do.” V says with a nod. “He’ll get it if you leave it there. On the ground where we were formed.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea V?” Griffon asks, looking at the letter still in V’s fingers. “Poking him back? Shouldn’t we just…thank our lucky stars that it was a letter and not something more violent and keep close to the drooling morons?”

“Perhaps.” V acknowledges. “But it does not change the fact that I wish for this letter to be sent.” He tilts his head as he looks at Griffon. “If you do not wish to go alone then I can-”

“Shut up and hand it here.” Griffon snaps, holding out a claw and V hands it off to him. “I’ll go. I’m not having you go anywhere near a location that you think he has some kind of foothold in. If I get attacked, I just get dispelled and return. If you get attacked, you die.”

“Thank you.” V says honestly and Griffon gives him a look.

“Don’t thank me.” He says. “I still think this is one of your dumber plans.”

“Dumber? Which one of my others have you disagreed with?” V asks and Griffon’s look shifts into something that tells V he thinks he’s an idiot.

“Where to start? Feedin the kid? Fleeing from Dante? Pick a bad life choice, they’re starting to add up.”

“I thought you appreciated that feeding Nero resulted in Dante giving up his own blood as a kind of repayment.”

“Hell yeah, but it was still stupid.” Griffon replies. “So, what are you gonna tell Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb out there?”

“The truth.” V says with a small shrug and Griffon looks at him surprised for a moment so he amends his statement. “Or a facsimile of it.” Griffon’s reaction settles back into something resigned. “My brother reached out to me to inform me of the rumor that he’d heard about Mundus. I doubt they’ll press too far into that.”

“They just might.”

“They won’t.” V says with assurance. “Not after the alleyway. Dante and Nero will believe the brother I referred to was Urizen and they’ll avoid the subject. And if they don’t, well I’ll put a stop to it.” Griffon takes a moment, looking down from V to the letter carefully held in his claws.

“You know V…I’ve been thinking.” He says. “Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.”

“What wouldn’t?”

“Telling them the truth.” Griffon replies before holding up the letter. “You know, the actual truth.”

“I’m surprised you’d say that.” V admits and Griffon shrugs.

“I don’t know. Like I get it. I get why you made that choice. The history between the original and the idiot is bloody and violent and frankly just plain stupid…but I don’t know V. After the alley I feel like we’re readin the situation wrong.” V thinks about that and takes a moment before he answers.

“I’ll concede to the fact that I considered something similar.” V admits. “The thought that Dante might not reply or respond in the way that Vergil feared originally. The fear that drove him to seek out Yamato on his own instead of reaching out to Dante in the first place.” V thinks about it. “I’ll admit that I’m unsure how much of my own fear stems from Vergil’s thought processes at the moment of separation and how much is actually my thinking. Dante is not…as he was. A lot of time has passed and he has changed in ways that I cannot predict and do not know.” V shakes his head at that. “Which makes him, in my eyes, even more dangerous. We need a cohesive unit and I no longer feel assured in any ability of mine to determine what Dante’s, or Nero’s, response would be should the information be given too early. It is too big of an uncertainty to bring into the equation. I need more time to observe and to determine what course of action to take with them.” Griffon sighs before he looks him in the eye.

“You know he wants you.”

“Yes…that was certainly unexpected.” V admits slowly. “I would not have thought that Dante’s tastes had shifted to gangly, emaciated, dark-haired men in his later years. Especially considering that he’s maintained his old preferences with Nero.” The whole ‘Nero loves wieners’ conversation had certainly not been _subtle_.

“You shouldn’t have been surprised. He always has.”

“He’s always wanted Vergil.” V corrects before he motions to himself. “And I am not he.”

“You’re enough of him that they’re gonna figure it out eventually. They’re gonna realize that they’re sensing the Sparda blood pull from you at some point. I don’t know why that idiot hasn’t figured it out already but he’s gonna V.”

“I’m aware.” V says. “I know that the longer we remain in close quarters the greater the chance that Dante senses something past what I’ve allowed to seep out. I’m a little surprised that he hasn’t sensed it during the times I’ve been asleep.”

“He’s distracted by Yamato.” Griffon says. “He’s probably attributing any Sparda power he’s feeling to that, but it’s gonna grate on him V. It’s gonna drive him mad until he figures it out.” He looks at him. “You should get in front of it and just tell him.”

“No.” V says with a shake of his head. “No, some things must be left to play out in their own time. I believe this is one of them.”

“And do you believe that because you actually believe that or are you saying you believe it because you’re scared of what happens after it comes out?”

“It’s entirely possible that it’s more of the second and less of the first.” V admits softly. “And yet it is the path I have chosen to walk regardless.” Griffon sighs at those words.

“Yeah well your dumbass almost walked the path alone when Mundus is nipping at your heels.”

“I didn’t want Dante or Nero put in his path.” V says firmly. “Not for me.”

“V…V come on.” Griffon says with a shake of his head. “You don’t honestly think there was ever gonna be a world that existed where they were able to avoid him?” Griffon asks. “They’re Sparda’s blood. Mundus was always going to come for them. Whether you were involved or not.”

“I’d rather not compound the issue. Not when Urizen waits in the dark for them as well.”

“Yeah, Urizen. That’s right. You know that guy you’re about to _poke with a stick_.” Griffon says, shaking the letter. “You can still decide to rip this up. It’s not too late.” V gives him a look and Griffon sighs. “Yeah, yeah. I didn’t think so. No one can say I didn’t try.”

“Griffon?” V asks and the bird looks at him. “What has led you to change your mind? About Dante?”

“I want you safe V.” Griffon says like it should be self-evident. “And I don’t think there’s gonna be anywhere safer for you than at his side when he finds out who you are and that Mundus is trying to shove you back in that shell. I think he’d die first before he’d let that happen to you again.” Griffon does a kind of shrug. “There was too much pain in how he mentioned Vergil going into the Underworld alone for me to think it’d play out in any other way.”

“I don’t want to torture Dante with the past.”

“It might not be past for long if you don’t start being more careful V.” Griffon warns. “Like it or not, I think you gotta pick. Pick Dante or pick Urizen I don’t give a damn which, but pick one because if you don’t it’ll be the same as picking Mundus. And that’s the last thing we want for you.” He takes to the air and hovers over the desk. “Alright, Air Griffon is in service. Let’s get this over with.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update: There won't be an update on Friday 6/21. I'm unsure when the next update will be, things are a little busy on this side of the computer. I haven't abandoned this story though and you will see more!   
> But I do ask please no comments asking when the next update will be. It stresses me out to see them.   
> All my love and until next time guys!

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment and a kudo! Thank you!


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